Tag Archives: Asylum seekers

Looking Back From Pluto?

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in Australian Government, Been Thinking, Idea Challenging, Immigration Policy, Life balance, Life exeprience, Media Commentary, Religion, sustainable living, Uncategorized

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Sadly, there’s no doubt organised religion has a lot to answer for.

I guess you could say it’s what I think someone on Pluto might see if they chose to look back at us through our media!

In a fantastic interview with Bishop John Shelby on the Weekly Show with Charlie Pickering (on ABC TV last week – see https://www.facebook.com/theweeklytv) the controversial American Bishop lamented the fact that “Church” is often the slowest mover when it comes to adopting positive societal change.

He discussed racial discrimination, slavery, and the subjugation of women – all as examples of issues where society has moved faster than organised religion in accepting and making positive changes.

He made no excuses for the poor performance and instead, when specifically discussing sexual orientation discrimination, actually pointedly apologised for what he called “the ignorance” of leaders within the Church. He sees it as a travesty that people of influence continue to espouse values that are clearly based in bias and prejudice rather than scientific fact.

He was not only eloquent but inspirational – I would love to be present during a direct conversation between himself and Cardinal Pell!

Despite it all the Bishop continues to have a strong faith and has not left the Church. Rather he has made it his life’s passion to challenge and question bias he sees as rooted in popular opinion rather than known fact – that is opinino based in fear and hypocrisy rather than in love and compassion. “Who are we to judge?”

 

… to challenge and question bias that he sees as rooted in popular opinion rather than known fact, and in this way based in fear … rather than love.

His comments got me thinking – If the Ten Commandments where set today what would they look like?

I don’t want to appear blasphemous but many find the ones in the bible hard for us to fathom let alone reconcile with our modern society.

So I took today’s media (paper, radio, TV and on-line) and used the content as the context to try and interpret a set of Modern Commandments – something reflecting how we are behaving right now. It resulted in the following.

COMMANDMENT 1: Any individual, organisation or Nation with a lot of money, should be honoured and protected. Don’t overly tax or annoy them or challenge them to do more good within society. You don’t want to put them off side.

COMMANDMENT 2: Losers should be shunned. Teams, individuals, and/or organisations that make mistakes should be abandoned and torn apart. Let that mistake not be forgotten.

COMMANDMENT 3: Raise up those that entertain us. A social media following is a modern Congregation so if they make you laugh, show you how to wear your clothes, play sport really well, date the right person or cook amazing food worship them. They are today’s Saints.

COMMANDMENT 3: Raise up those that entertain us. A social media following is a modern congregation

COMMANDMENT 4: Show no compassion but zealously guard your borders – turning those in need away. If you happen to end up with some people in need, make it someone else’s problem.

COMMANDMENT 5: If a person is struggling, pay them off. Make it easier to live dis-empowered, unemployed and displaced. Heaven forbids you to help them develop self-respect. Whilst doing this though, complain bitterly about their lack of initiative.

COMMANDMENT 6: Take everything you can get – now! Have no consideration for future generations. The only hole that matters is the one in your pocket. A clean environment is over rated.

COMMANDMENT 7: No matter what “IT” is, tear “IT” down. Consistently look for the worst in people and don’t stop looking until you find it.

COMMANDMENT 8: Disrespect and mock parents. Make it harder than ever for families to have time together. Schedule work 7 days a week and make the cost of living prohibitive.

And while we’re at it – make sure that only your definition of family is acceptable. After-all, it would be ridiculous to suggest that “love” is at the heart of any family! It’s obviously about the sex of the parents and their consciously, coupled, biblically ordained status.

COMMANDMENT 9: Define love within tight boundaries. Judge others openly and make a lot of noise to justify your opinion.

COMMANDMENT 10: Elect people who generally encourage others to continue to have the lowest of societal ambition. Leaders that seek to inspire minds and open hearts shall be few and far between and generally run down by the system before they can do any good.

And while I hate to say it, I think this modern generation actually has an Eleventh Commandment:

COMMANDMENT 11: Whatever you do, do NOT treat others as you would have them treat you. Cut in front, yell, honk, snarl, snatch, complain, push  – the world is not made of “fairy-floss” so stop looking for the sweet in it and protect yourself and your turf at all costs.

Am I being too cynical? ……… Maybe.

It’s important to note the above exercise isn’t an expression of my opinion. Rather it’s what I think someone on Pluto might see if they chose to look back at us through our media.

Having said all that I am eternally optimistic – I might worry I live in a world of “fairy-floss” (ie a world where good always wins and the best in people need only be encouraged) but ultimately I can’t think of wanting to live any other way.

In this way you might be able to accuse me of living  “naively” but Bishop Shelby Spong’s interview, and my observations today, have made me more determined to not live “ignorantly”.

Yours in forming inspiring, informed opinions

Kylea

 

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We Are Better Than This – We Both Know It

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Australian Government, Been Thinking, Idea Challenging, Immigration Policy, Life exeprience, Uncategorized

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Please join in me in sending a message of hope to our political leaders. A message that says we truly believe we’re better than this. Who knows what we might end up creating together and how proud we may all feel to be able to tell our Grandchildren of the role we played in making our country a more compassionate place?

While I wouldn’t usually repeat a blog topic I thought, given the huge amount of ground made in this movement in just the last 7 days, in this case it was warranted.

It’s a fact that I have always been drawn to high adrenaline deadlines but to think that just over 2 weeks ago we didn’t even have on operational website is really to shine a light on what can be achieved when people truly pull together – personal agendas and egos aside.

…to think that just over 2 weeks ago we didn’t even have on operational website is really to shine a light on what can be achieved when people truly pull together

The reality is this has very much been a group effort. Thirteen incredibly experienced, ordinary Australians have given their time and skills, completely free of charge, to get the #WBTTAUS movement off the ground. Interestingly not only have we given time though –  the individuals involved in the movement have also covered all of the unavoidable out-of-pocket expenses – and there isn’t even a tax advantage!

In addition, over 30 high-profile Australians, from all walks of life, travelled to Sydney and gave most of a day to record and produce the amazing single that has been released on iTunes tonight. See WBTTAUS.org for further information and to help us send a clear message to people in power – we believe we are better than this.

See WBTTAUS.org for further information and to help us send a clear message to people in power – we believe we are better than this.

With all that said, the focus now is really on what comes of this and where it goes? We didn’t do this to just create something you can hum along to (although I’ve got to say the tune is more than a little catchy!). In the end it is absolutely about driving change in Australia’s current policies around holding children, who are seeking refuge with us, indefinitely in detention camps.

Given this I wanted to share some of the things that I have learned in the last little while with you as I honestly believe that, once they are known, it’s that much harder to turn your back on the truth. The truth is:

  • There are currently over 700 children being detained indefinitely in detention camps at the behest of the Australian Government. That’s our Government!
  • Independent health experts agree these centres are damaging both physically and emotionally. These kids are routinely in poor health. Psychologically they are exposed to extreme stress across the detention population including their “grown-ups” and peers. Many of the kids self harm.
  • Many also don’t even get a regular nights sleep as they are routinely woken twice a night by a light shining in their face to determine their identity.
  • These innocent kids are denied the everyday freedoms we, as ordinary Australians, take for granted: walking where we like; sharing space and time with our friends and family unmonitored; being educated consistently and knowing that if we are unwell we have access to one of the best medical systems in the world.
  • Perhaps most shockingly for me though was learning that upon entry these kids are given a number and many of them are then only known by that number for the during of their internment. Not their names – their numbers!

There is no question these environments are simply not suitable for anyone, let alone kids, but that’s where we have deliberately focused this movement because it is in the children that the behaviour seems so much more abhorrent. Who else can advocate for these voiceless people?

These kids are only here because someone loved them enough to either run with them or send them away from an environment where they were truly fearful for their lives.

So why do we, as ordinary Australians, allow this? I want to believe it is simply because we are currently afraid. I want to believe it is fear, and not just selfishness and ignorance, that has got so many of us worrying about letting these 700 kids into our country.

I want to believe it is fear, and not just selfishness and ignorance, that has got so many of us worrying about letting these 700 kids into our country.

Fear of what? I guess fear we will be overwhelmed by people seeking help; fear that the customs they bring won’t be aligned to what we’ve come to expect; fear that in having to actually deal with these people we are in turn are acknowledging that, no matter how far removed we are, things happening on the other side of the world do affect us and will continue to affect our children.

I’ve also come to believe fear though is the lowest of human emotions. It stops us from being the best we can be and ultimately, it is frequently proven to be unfounded.

Whether we like it or not every single one of our forebears were, at some point, effectively “boat people” or “refugees”. We’ve all come to Australia looking for something more.

Anyone who knows anything about Australia’s history knows the first white settlers were indeed criminals removed from their home country as undesirables. Now, descendants of these people, detain others taking the same trip; not because these new people have been charged and found guilty of a crime but simply because they naively thought that Australia was somewhere to aspire to be: a place of freedoms and dreams.

Please join in me in sending a message of hope to our political leaders. A message that says we truly believe we’re better than this. Who knows what we might end up creating together and how proud we may all feel to be able to tell our Grandchildren of the role we played in making our country a more compassionate place.

#WBTTAUS

 

 

 

 

What Wouldn’t You Do For Love?

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Australian Government, Been Thinking, Idea Challenging, Immigration Policy, Life balance, Life exeprience, Uncategorized

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I think it’s a question we have probably all asked ourselves at some point in time.

Would you wear your hair a particular way? Would you change the way you dress or the way you speak? Would you pen an unsigned letter and leave it where it could be found, in the hope of making a heart flutter, or to test that heart’s worth?

Would you fight for love? Would you literally stand in front of a danger that is headed in your love’s direction so that it collected you and not them?

Would you kill for love? Would you run for love?

Would you kill for love? Would you run for love?

It’s this last question that has been playing on my mind of late. As most of you know, for all my quirks, one thing that has always been consistent for me is my belief that things are brought into your life for a reason.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve had a tough year. Many of the assumptions I had made about life were challenged and found to be wrong. As hard as it has been though, I can now say that I am more content than I have been in a long time.

I guess for me the ultimate validation of this contentedness was the universe seemingly asking me to get involved in something much bigger than myself again. What I’ve come to recognise as this “need” literally found me, and in finding me, I know it was also looking for you!

What I’ve come to recognise as this “need” literally found me, and in finding me, I know it was also looking for you!

Given this I’m reaching out to you to see if I can get you thinking about joining me in a new movement with the sole purpose of bringing our society to a better place.

You see I have thrown my lot in with an extraordinary group of people who are giving their time and resource whole heartedly, without any monetary return, to draw our community’s attention to the faults in our country’s current approach to dealing with children who have shown up here looking for refuge.

I know that a percentage of you have immediately been put off by me raising this subject. After all, I’d have it as a guess that this topic is right up there with climate change and religious beliefs in terms of how split our community is on what is right and what is wrong. The boats have stopped after all!

I’m not here to judge your opinion or argue with you about it – what I am here to do though is to draw your attention to a particular part of this story that I sincerely believe is not currently being dealt with well.

I’m not here to judge your opinion or argue with you about it – what I am here to do though is to draw your attention to a particular part of this story that I sincerely believe is not currently being dealt with well.

Did you know that there are currently over 700 children being held is various detention centres both here in Australia and off shore at the behest of the Australian Government?

Did you know that, on average, these children have been in these centres for over 400 days?

They have witnessed the distress of the adults around them; they have been woken up, up to twice a night to have their identities checked; they have been denied the right to move freely within their environment – they live behind fences and are escorted to appointments outside the facility by armed guards. To the system they are a number and many actually report being called by their number instead of their name.

In most cases they weren’t part of the decision to flee here. Instead someone who loved them made that decision for them. Where-ever they were, or what-ever they were surrounded by, it was frightening enough for those that loved them to either send them in search of a better life by themselves or to flee with them looking for that.

I know that this topic is so divisive that I could lose friends because of my stance. I’ve already enjoyed a number of really animated and vibrant conversations and I love that so I don’t actually fear losing friends. What I do fear is that we will continue to live in a society where we simply don’t even discuss it or draw attention to it. Where we continue to believe that “it” simply wouldn’t be possible for our Government – our Australian Government – to treat children in this way in our names.

… somehow this amazingly beautiful and proud country has let fear step so far in front of any other emotion that we can’t see that holding children in this sort of circumstance is immoral.

Whether we want to own it or not every single one of us is in someway a boat person. We all came here from somewhere else looking for something better but somehow this amazingly beautiful and proud country has let fear step so far in front of any other emotion that we can’t see that holding children in this sort of circumstance is immoral.

How many other people’s and populations have turned their eyes away not wanting to see something that made them uncomfortable? Do we really also want to be that society.

I’m not here to argue about turning back boats. I’m not here to argue about where people should be allowed to come from and where they shouldn’t. What I am here to argue for though is that once someone makes it to a part of the world where we are responsible for their welfare – particularly when that someone is a child – I believe we are better than we are currently acting.

What I am here to argue for though is that once someone makes it to a part of the world where we are responsible for their welfare – particularly when that someone is a child – I believe we are better than we are currently acting.

As Edmund Burke said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We all know that it only takes a certain type of complacency from good people to allow horrible things to be done.

I know there is nothing that I would not do for my children. I may have forgotten this at times, when work was crazy and life seemed so demanding in so many other ways, but listening to what is happening to these kids that are under our care has reminded me how precious all children really are. They are our future policy makers, our future peace-keepers, our future dreamers, and yes – in some instances our future trouble-makers – how can we let any of them experience this sort of treatment for any period of time and the question will always be what role have we played in making them so?

If you do nothing else please just dig deeper on this part of this issue. Get across the facts and then if you find that, like me, you are moved to try to ensure our country lives up to the promise of what it can be, join me by standing with the We’re Better Than This or the WBTTAUS movement – http://wbttaus.org.

Find it online, on Facebook (We’re Better Than This) or through Twitter (#WBTTAUS) and don’t let your voice be one of the many silent ones that continue to support a practice that you actually know in your heart is just plain wrong.

Yours in never settling for less than our best – Kylea

PS I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post. It might sound crazy but I literally had nothing that I thought was really right to share. I was trying too hard to work things out for myself but now I feel like my voice is back is I’m looking forward to getting back into these conversations with you. Through it all I have never stopped thinking x