I'm both a moral and a financial supporter of Amnesty International, but that particular piece is not their finest work. Firstly, it implies that Australia's treatement of detainees is somehow just peachy, which is false; the fetish porn description of caning is sufficiently over-the-top to trigger an aversion state in an otherwise-sympathetic reader, which is is counter-productive; most annoyingly, it continues to fall into the aggravating fallacy of the perfect solution.
This isn't perfect - far from it. But to say "yes, Australia should take 4,000 more refugees, but not by sending 800 to Malaysia" is stupid. That isn't one of the current options. But the 4,000 for 800 is, which puts 3,200 more people into actual resettlement in Australia, while also, potentially, cutting into the profiteering and predation of the people-smugglers.
There's a reason the UNHCR has lauded this as an improvement.
And finally: Of course there is a queue. There is a long list of applications to be processed, a limit to the rate at which processing can take place, and no sane way to order the processing other than in order of arrival.
Upon returning to Australia from overseas, I am, as an Australian citizen, granted automatic entry to this fine country. I do not have to queue for admission. I still have to bloody well queue for my passport stamp. There is always a queue.
no subject
I'm both a moral and a financial supporter of Amnesty International, but that particular piece is not their finest work. Firstly, it implies that Australia's treatement of detainees is somehow just peachy, which is false; the fetish porn description of caning is sufficiently over-the-top to trigger an aversion state in an otherwise-sympathetic reader, which is is counter-productive; most annoyingly, it continues to fall into the aggravating fallacy of the perfect solution.
This isn't perfect - far from it. But to say "yes, Australia should take 4,000 more refugees, but not by sending 800 to Malaysia" is stupid. That isn't one of the current options. But the 4,000 for 800 is, which puts 3,200 more people into actual resettlement in Australia, while also, potentially, cutting into the profiteering and predation of the people-smugglers.
There's a reason the UNHCR has lauded this as an improvement.
And finally: Of course there is a queue. There is a long list of applications to be processed, a limit to the rate at which processing can take place, and no sane way to order the processing other than in order of arrival.
Upon returning to Australia from overseas, I am, as an Australian citizen, granted automatic entry to this fine country. I do not have to queue for admission. I still have to bloody well queue for my passport stamp. There is always a queue.