When Labor leader Bill Shorten announced his support for yet one more draconian and inhumane Abbott federal government policy — this time, towing back asylum seeker boats in violation of international law and respect for human life — some pointed out the usual role of the Opposition leader is to oppose things.
But that's not fair. In recent times, we've seen Shorten oppose many things. They just happen to be the same things PM Tony Abbott opposes, like international humanitarian obligations, the rule of law and basic human decency.
Some people, outraged by this total capitulation to Abbott's racist demonising of some of the world's most vulnerable people, have compared Shorten to a spineless toad, which understandably got the toad community up in arms.
A toad spokesperson rightly pointed out that while many might find their slimy and warty exterior distasteful, at least no toad ever voted to legally enforce covering up child abuse, as Labor did just the other week.
Every single capitulation to Abbott and violation of the most basic human rights is justified by the need to “win office”, but what sort of sick freak wants to be in power just so they can oversee a system of torturing children?
Presumably, the idea is that to win an election, the best plan is to make yourself so indistinguishable from the bastards who won the last election that people accidentally elect you in a mass case of mistaken identity.
But this ignores the fact that the bastards in office now are actually deeply unpopular. The only government polices that have any support are those based on fear, which seek to distract people from the real source of their problems.
Therefore, you might think a useful way forward might be to point that out to people, to say: “These people want to destroy universal health care and slash pensions, all the while pushing policies to actively hasten the threat of ecological catastrophe. For god's sake no asylum seeker or Muslim has ever done that.”
And you might also think that enthusiastically agreeing with every ridiculous utterance on asylum seekers or “terror” might give the impression that the Coalition has a point on these topics — thus further strengthening the one thing on which the Coalition is strong.
But the fact this sort of strategy doesn't even work is really the least of its problems. The biggest problem is now both major parties fully support making a system that is already unimaginably cruel to innocent people who need help even deadlier.
Boat turn-backs kill — directly and by default. We know it can kill directly because an “unsinkable” orange life boat the Australian navy put asylum seekers in and pushed back to Indonesia was found washed up on the coast of Java last year — with unconfirmed reports of three deaths.
And it can kill by default because its entire logic is to deter people who fear for their lives from seeking safety. It is just another facet of the approach that sees the Australian government actively assist the Sri Lankan military in preventing boatloads of Tamils from escaping Sri Lanka — the same Tamils who are the victims of murderous, genocidal policies by the same Sri Lankan military.
The most sickening thing is when supporters of the policy insist — as Shorten did — that they are really just very concerned about the well-being of these asylum seekers and don’t want to see them taking such dangerous trips. As though people take potentially deadly trips half way around the world just for a lark, or maybe because all the cheap Tiger Air tickets had sold out that week.
If this is how they treat people they care for, I'd hate to see what they do to anyone they don't like. Presumably they'd strap them to a rocket to be fired to Pluto with no food and nothing but Michael Buble albums and repeats of Two And A Half Men for entertainment.
I certainly hope these bastards never show such an interest in my wellbeing. I don't want to cross a dangerously busy intersection one day, only to be kidnapped and tossed back into the incoming traffic as a semi-trailer bears down on me, while Abbott and Shorten stand on the footpath shouting, “It's because we care!”
Both big parties now fully back a policy that says to the world: “Look, if you really must die, please have the decency to die over there, where we can't see. We can't be expected to deal with your corpses. Thanking you in advance.”
It is almost enough to give you grudging respect for the far-right nutters who turn out for Reclaim Australia rallies proudly displaying swastika tattoos. Shorten and Abbott push torture and death while wearing respectable suits and ties. At least these people proudly display their stance in permanent ink on their thick necks and skulls.
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