This is what small Commonwealth countries are capable of if their leaders had the audacity to take action and ignore polls for once. Canada and NZ take note:
http://www.canada.com/national/national ... da75f3258d
Tough talk, tough action Down Under
Australia is not afraid to say what it thinks
Kelly McParland
National Post
December 26, 2003
Forget the United States -- as 2003 closes, one country stands out for its aggressive foreign policy, its readiness to use the military to fight terror, to send troops to impose order on another country, to rile activists by closing its borders to illegal migrants and to set up an offshore camp to hold undesirable foreigners in virtual isolation.
It's Australia.
If you want a government that says what it thinks, folks, look to John Howard. Faced with a hunger strike in Nauru, a tiny island where Australia deposits failed asylum seekers, Mr. Howard's Immigration Minister said on Monday they could starve all they want, but it wasn't going to win them a ticket past the border guards. Mr. Howard, the Prime Minister, ignored the strikers and flew to the Solomons to serve free beer to Australian troops who had been sent there to bring order to a country that was sinking into lawlessness.
In a recent speech, Mr. Howard's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, heaped disdain on Church leaders who questioned the administration's approach, calling them "invincibly ignorant" and dismissing their views as "an aberration of the elites in the dwindling days of their influence."
You might not agree with them, but at least you know where they stand. George W. Bush may have more money and a bigger army, but Mr. Howard has been just as enthusiastic in battling terrorists, lawbreakers and any general miscreants Canberra sees as a threat to regional peace.
If anything, Mr. Howard -- who was mocked in October when Mr. Bush embarrassingly dubbed him his "sheriff" in the Pacific -- is less restrained than the U.S. President. While Mr. Bush tried to contain his glee at the capture of Saddam Hussein last week -- resisting with some difficulty the temptation to admit he'd like to see the Iraqi dictator hung up by his thumbs -- Canberra readily acknowledged it would be happy to see the death penalty imposed.
As leader of the world's only superpower, Mr. Bush has to humour an array of special interests and professional second-guessers he would probably just as soon joined Saddam in his well-lighted cell in Baghdad. Not so Mr. Howard, who only has to keep Australians happy and has been doing so with a display of testosterone that would have Canada's nation of grannies reaching for their smelling salts.
Just look at the past 12 months. Unlike Ottawa, which is so mired in political correctness it could make a victim out of Vlad the Impaler, Canberra signed up promptly to help rid Iraqis of their oppressor. They followed that up with an expedition of their own, leading a regional force of 2,200 troops and police to the Solomons to track down warlord Harold Keke and tame the ethnic militias that had made the country all but ungovernable.
The Solomons mission was such a success that Canberra signed a deal this month to try something similar in Papua New Guinea, another Pacific neighbour wracked by violence, corruption and collapsing infrastructure. Australia will send about 220 police and a separate team of bureaucrats to help straighten it, welcomed by a government that already receives US$220-million a year in Australian aid.
Canberra is motivated by the fear that allowing countries to collapse in chaos feeds the bitterness and resentment on which terrorist organizations thrive, and the view that countries like Australia have a duty to use their wealth and muscle to help them out.
"This is our patch, this is our part of the world for which the countries of the Pacific have a particular responsibility," Mr. Howard told the troops in the Solomons.
"If we're not willing to help our friends who need help, nobody else will."
The mess in Nauru is something else.
One of Mr. Howard's policies has been to prevent illegal migration by treating would-be migrants with a harshness Canberra hopes will dissuade others from following the same path.
Rather than letting asylum seekers land in Australia, hundreds have been intercepted and shipped off to remote islands, where they can either stay indefinitely or go home.
Life on a Pacific island may sound idyllic, but for the most part it's not. On Nauru, a tiny speck on the equator, 35 asylum seekers -- mostly from Afghanistan -- have become so distraught by the pointlessness of their lives they're threatening to starve themselves to death. They are part of a larger group of 280 migrants Australia has refused to accept, but who say they can't return to the danger and disorder of Afghanistan.
Entering their third week of a hunger strike, several have sewn their lips shut to prevent being force-fed.
Britain's Observer described a fearsome scene: "Fifteen of them are now in hospital as the searing 50C heat of Nauru's dry season takes its toll. Most shelter from the sun under a makeshift plastic canopy at the entrance to the Topside camp, surrounded by the blazing white coral of Nauru's interior. Their friends mop them with wet towels and shake them to check if they are still conscious; those who pass out are taken to the hospital, but at least two detainees have already discharged themselves and rejoined the protest after treatment. Some have been urinating blood."
Canberra originally downplayed conditions -- the Immigration Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said they were free to shop and go to picnics, a difficult-sounding prospect when you're urinating blood -- but has since sent a two-man team to try and reason with the strikers. The team arrived this week and has visited the camp.
Australia insists it won't back down, though its resolve may be tested should the strikers actually start to die. But it is not embarrassed by its attitude.
"They're engaging in a very unattractive protest to bully the media into supporting them to get the visa that they want to get into Australia," Ms. Vanstone maintained.
"We cannot run an immigration policy that if you're prepared to starve yourself we'll give you what you want ... I want my time, my energy to be taken up by real refugees who come through the front door."
They don't talk like that in Mr. Bush's White House. But you can bet they'd like to.
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The mouse that roared
The mouse that roared
"Poor Ike, it won't be a bit like the Army. He'll find it very frustrating. He'll sit here and he'll say, 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen."
Harry Truman
Harry Truman
What right do these people think they have to demand entry into another Country. Now the most of these people have buggered up their own country and now want entry into another one. Once they have this entry they will be demanding to be allowed their old customs rituals which have
caused them to flee in the first place. They wont want to integrate, they will then demand their own schools where they they only seem to read the Koran. So good luck to Australia, you are better off with out them.
caused them to flee in the first place. They wont want to integrate, they will then demand their own schools where they they only seem to read the Koran. So good luck to Australia, you are better off with out them.
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Spannerman
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joshualoftus
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As a resident of Canberra, I agree with the stance my government and PM has taken with regard to "asylum seekers". The ones on Nauru are just a bunch of tossers. Some have even tried suing the government for keeping the on Nauru too long and not issuing temporary visas. However, that said, you'd be very surprised how unpopular Howard is here. It seems that most people support the "asylum seekers" and are against the war in Iraq, in which Aussie special forces and Airforce participated. Everywhere you go you see these stupid "NO WAR" stickers on cars and people whinging about freeing refugees etc. I think that it just seems like most people disagree with Howard because the protesters and whingers just make so much F'N noise, that they cause trouble beyond their numbers. Also the Howard supporters (in the polls about 60%), dont tend to go out on the streets declaring support, so they seem less public and smaller in numbers.
Often you see protesters around, (I live really close to parliament house), they're for the most part a bunch of raggedy, dirty, stinky people with no jobs, who do nothing other than whine about the government. There was also recently a scandal about the protest organisers "renting" a crowd, where they coerced people from all over into coming to canberra in legions of buses.
All in all I think Howard has done a good job, he's protected the borders from "asylum seekers", who somehow all lose their ID papers and invariably claim to be Iraqi or Afghani, yet can still afford $20,000 for a boat ride to OZ. Plus the effort in the Soloman's was excellent, stopping a coutry from tearing itself apart (New Zealand also had a big part in it, kudos!), and as an added bonus the Aussie economy has never been stronger against the US dollar and the pound, when the last government drove the economy into the ground. Good Effort in my book. Thumbs up.
Often you see protesters around, (I live really close to parliament house), they're for the most part a bunch of raggedy, dirty, stinky people with no jobs, who do nothing other than whine about the government. There was also recently a scandal about the protest organisers "renting" a crowd, where they coerced people from all over into coming to canberra in legions of buses.
All in all I think Howard has done a good job, he's protected the borders from "asylum seekers", who somehow all lose their ID papers and invariably claim to be Iraqi or Afghani, yet can still afford $20,000 for a boat ride to OZ. Plus the effort in the Soloman's was excellent, stopping a coutry from tearing itself apart (New Zealand also had a big part in it, kudos!), and as an added bonus the Aussie economy has never been stronger against the US dollar and the pound, when the last government drove the economy into the ground. Good Effort in my book. Thumbs up.
here here..go howard...seems to be doing a good job..
there will always be protestors, some will protest against anything just to make a nuicense (spelling?)...if you ever hear there arguements they dont have a clue or a vaild reason....
they would protest about heaven..saying is sterotypically white and fluffy, what about the immigrants there, who need desert and shacks!
i remember when; i think ITV news interviewed one of the peope about the war in iraq who was on that million strong march through london...her reasons were...i dont like war, the interviewer said but this tyrant has killed thousands and thousands of unarmed people....her reply....are you ready? and i quote "who has? thats terrible!"
what the jumping jack was she doing there!!!!!! silly silly women, live on tele aswel...true protestor.
i was always thinking of emmigrating abroad when i retire or reach a ripe old age after 22years in the corps all things going well, three choices, Canada, US or Aus. After reading a few posts about the verious nations, Aus seems to be trump card at the moment, we'll see in 20 odd years...maybe i wont need too as our Britainin a maybe be called GReat Britain again...or would that be offending the lesses greater countries:| the mind boggles!
cheers, davo
there will always be protestors, some will protest against anything just to make a nuicense (spelling?)...if you ever hear there arguements they dont have a clue or a vaild reason....
they would protest about heaven..saying is sterotypically white and fluffy, what about the immigrants there, who need desert and shacks!
i remember when; i think ITV news interviewed one of the peope about the war in iraq who was on that million strong march through london...her reasons were...i dont like war, the interviewer said but this tyrant has killed thousands and thousands of unarmed people....her reply....are you ready? and i quote "who has? thats terrible!"
what the jumping jack was she doing there!!!!!! silly silly women, live on tele aswel...true protestor.
i was always thinking of emmigrating abroad when i retire or reach a ripe old age after 22years in the corps all things going well, three choices, Canada, US or Aus. After reading a few posts about the verious nations, Aus seems to be trump card at the moment, we'll see in 20 odd years...maybe i wont need too as our Britainin a maybe be called GReat Britain again...or would that be offending the lesses greater countries:| the mind boggles!
cheers, davo
Forward Troop - CLRRM, Viking Operator and Maintainer. Viking Support Troop out in The Ghan.
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Rotary Booty
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Maybe it runs in the family.The mouse that roared
Joshualoftus.
That's what's so remarkable about John Howard is that he's likely the last Commonwealth leader to have the moral courage to do what is right instead of pandering to the mouthpieces who speak for Australia.
The saddest thing of all about Australia's squeaky left is that they're convinced all their problems will somehow be easier to solve if Australia becomes a republic.
It is well-documented how unpopular Howard is in Australia. As unpopular as George Bush is in the US, I guess.you'd be very surprised how unpopular Howard is here. It seems that most people support the "asylum seekers" and are against the war in Iraq, in which Aussie special forces and Airforce participated. Everywhere you go you see these stupid "NO WAR" stickers on cars and people whinging about freeing refugees etc
That's what's so remarkable about John Howard is that he's likely the last Commonwealth leader to have the moral courage to do what is right instead of pandering to the mouthpieces who speak for Australia.
The saddest thing of all about Australia's squeaky left is that they're convinced all their problems will somehow be easier to solve if Australia becomes a republic.
"Poor Ike, it won't be a bit like the Army. He'll find it very frustrating. He'll sit here and he'll say, 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen."
Harry Truman
Harry Truman
hehe Blair needs to be like Howard! -F*ck off failed asylum seekers your not wanted here ahhahahahha -i'd do the same with all the do-gooders too, they fail to appreciate the harm these undesireables bring to our once glorious country!
Honour is our only armour and the Queen's colours our only camouflage
I wonder when it was actually glorious? Victoria's reign? Ah, yes, 6 year olds burning themselves climbing inside chimneys; 10 year olds working 6 x 12 hr days dying under weaving looms; infant mortality rate of >50% among the working classes; etc.........ono_doken wrote:our once glorious country!
It's 'glorious' when you read it as 'history' but not when you examine the reality for the 'man in the street'.
It's glorious if you lived in the manor house.
Starvation in the inner cities in the mid-1800's, etc.....
Yes, I think it was glorious too. I'm just glad it was my ancestors who had to suffer the misery and privation and not me!
how many countries have been built without immense suffering ??? -this is why we had an empire, personal sacrifice for the country, a great country, a great people........
look at places like iraq, where people would rather come over here for a comfy life... their country is crap, always has been and always will be because of the people who live there.......
look at places like iraq, where people would rather come over here for a comfy life... their country is crap, always has been and always will be because of the people who live there.......
Honour is our only armour and the Queen's colours our only camouflage
