Now that the mining tax has been sorted, and already forgotten, we can move on to refugees. Just what was sorted with the mining tax already slips into oblivion, but the miners are happy.  Somewhere along the road to compromise the public good had to yield, all too predictably.

The refugee ‘solution’ is likely to be the same: a blancmange that addresses nothing very well, stirs up all the wrong emotions, and attempts to pass the buck.

Why stop at building a processing centre? Why don’t we pay the East Timorese to take in some boat people as citizens in their country? Perhaps that could work, for the cost of some infrastructure and development aid. How about some serious education and apprenticeship projects that would give East Timor the people and the skills to rebuild their country, and give the boat people a new life along the way? Isn’t that what they want? There must be a triple win solution that could work, rather than the same old approaches that don’t seem to solve anything.

Blending cultures surely could work as well for developing countries as it has for Australia.  The US is rapidly turning Hispanic, in another generation Australia will probably be much more Asian, and why shouldn’t a good dose of Afghan or Pakistani population be a welcome addition to East Timor, Malaysia or Indonesia?

Gillard needs to let us assess her performance and policies before she calls an election. And could the ALP please come up with substantive progress on climate? Real commitments to measurable cuts in emissions, not just per capita cuts, is what’s needed.

In the meantime, at least the GetUp mob has produced something entertaining, using all your favourite pollies in an action movie trailer.

It’s worth a giggle:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Enrol&id=1178