"An Attack? Yes, on Australia's Democracy."
George Monbiot's article, "Sick of the Market-driven World? You Should Be."1 is a down to earth take on today's reality.
However, in Australia we need to go further. Australia is facing a challenge to democracy. This is seen in the way we treat less fortunate people. The challenge goes beyond our borders. At first it is "the boat people" who have been whisked away from the view of the ordinary, decent Australian. Because the asylum seeker debate has been used as a political vote winner, it's easier to dismiss their rights as human beings. With the buzz of work and surviving economic changes we often shut out the noise of the world. Living takes our energy.
But if we in Australia are going to survive as we now know it we need to be clear headed. We need to be able to keep our freedoms. These are freedoms protected by the a judicial system.
Right now the government wants to take away the rights of our Australian citizens by the use of fear. The fear of terrorism. But, I am not only scared of terrorism but of losing our democracy. Our pioneers and our diggers have shaped and fought for the rights of Australian citizens. The decision to revoke citizenship is rightfully in the hands of Australia's judicial system.
It cannot be up to an Australian official to decide who belongs in Australia and who does not. Laws are part of democracy. Keep chipping away at democracy and some day we will all be in the same boat - searching for a better place to live. Judgements on the way we live can should not be made by some official who will often be lost in the paperwork - bureaucracy at its best.
While I appreciate the article, "Sick of the Market Driven World" "You Should be." It is only part of the revelation we need in Australia. Another revelation being Prim minister Abbott's attack on our democracy.
We want to keep Australia safe, but let's keep our court system healthy, our laws in line with our democracy and spend money supporting the system our forefathers left us. Don't give away our freedom. To give away our freedom is giving into an insidious violence eating at our Australian way of life.
1. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/05/neoliberalism-mental-health-rich-poverty-economy