Latham 'soft' on refugees?

BY ALISON DELLIT

On his second day as leader of the ALP, Mark Latham attempted to win some credibility as a pro-refugee compassionate. "Will the prime minister support Labor's call to have the 200 children in detention centres out by Christmas?", he asked.

A problem for Latham, however, is that locking children in remote prisons was originally his party's idea. In 1994, PM John Howard triumphantly pointed out, when Labor was in power, "there were 342 children in detention in Australia".

Latham's ascendency has been welcomed by some refugee-rights supporters. But it is a little unclear why. In 2002, Latham wrote to Labor for Refugees secretary John Robertson. The letter said: "Groups like Labor for Refugees are asking the Federal Caucus to turn a blind eye to illegal migration, in particular, the corrupt practices of people smugglers. You are asking us to replace the rule of law with an open door asylum seeker policy.

"This is a betrayal of the traditional values of the Labor movement. The moment we start to condone illegal behaviour is the moment we will become just another Green or Democrat party ... The early leaders of the Labor movement, such as Curtin and Chifley, were not willing to tolerate illegality or irresponsibility."

Those who flee persecution to get to Australian shores can expect little mercy at the hands of Latham's "Modern Labor".

From Green Left Weekly, December 10, 2003.

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From GLW issue 565