Angry rant

Yes. Okay. I know I rant a lot. In fact most of my blog is just one rant after another, but I've just been catching up on today's news and the stories about the changes to refugee policy have got me in a tizzy.

For those who have been too busy this week to reach for the paper (as important and industrious professionals often are), let me quickly summarise what has been going on.

Basically the Rudd government has changed its policy on refugees coming from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan based on a UNHCR review of the conditions in these countries.

According to the new policy, the processing of refugee claims by Sri Lankans and Afghans will be suspended by three to six months. This was done in a bid to stop the invasion of Australia by the evil masses or people who jump onto boats to speed their way to our shores with the view of destroying our economy....wait. No. That's just what a lot of the media and ignorant Australians will have you believe.

The move -- which is a bit of a turn for Rudd from his previous policies (although his foreign affairs minister is arguing that Rudd's always had a tough stance on refugees. In this he's both right and wrong; it all depends whose standards of "tough" you're looking at, but I'm not going to go into all of that) has received its fair share of criticism from all factions.

Tony Abbott has gotten into the debate in the middle of the "crisis"- as he does - when his Christian spirit could no longer withstand the way the PM was lying/cheating to the electorate/changing his spots. Or, at least, that's what he'd have you believe.

In typical Abbottness he has claimed that the minister is vying for the love of the polls with this band-aid solution. He might be right. I don't know.

Why the PM did what he did and what the opposition leader has to say about it isn't actually the most disturbing part of this debacle.

The most disturbing part is that under the political squabbling over who's got bigger balls when it comes to "getting tough on asylum seekers" or "queue jumpers" (that term must have been coined by a journalist), there are real people trying to get away from real persecution.

I, of course, speak of the 1/10,000th of one per cent of the world's refugees that Australia receives. Yes. That's right according to the CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the number of desperate people trying to claim asylum is that small.

We are not being "flooded". We're not even being drizzled.

Of course I'm not suggesting we should overlook the issues of people trafficking and all of the other highly illegal operations of the criminals who profit from the illegal immigration trade or ignore environmental issues around increasing the population of our country, but how about stopping the hate?

Politicians are politicians. They're meant to be the ones who long ago sold their soul for something or other. You expect them to cheat, lie and do everything for self-gain. I'm not even sure why people are so shocked when politicians act like politicians.

What I'm shocked about is how many people, without really thinking about the situation are happy to scream about Australia being invaded by refugees. And how many argue that piling onto a dangerous boat and setting off for a foreign land is actually something that cunning people would rather do than calmly process a visa and get here legally by plane. They argue that this is not a sign of desperation but impatience. Seems a bit silly to me.

I know that there are exceptions to every rule and that there are people who jump the queue out there, but I think most people who take such drastic measures to get to Australia aren't and shouldn't be treated as evil invaders.

Anyway I really have no solutions. I just needed to rant a little. I feel better now. Thanks for listening.

Oh and if you want to do some reading on the subject, have a look at this story. And this one. And, if you have time, read the comments at the bottom of this story.