Tropical Love And Jealousy, Desert Lawsuit, UN Propaganda And Dumb Uni Students

Image by Ben Thomson

This week aboard the Hate Boat the Government is trying to charm the pants off Cambodia, calm Indonesia who’s feeling scorned, and deal with Nauru who’s being super needy. All of that plus our own issues at home. It's like trying to date four people at once.

–The Australian Government’s tropical jaunts to South East Asia continued this week with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison holding talks in Cambodia. The Government has been wooing Cambodia over asylum seekers for a number of months now, beginning with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's visit in February. Early indications from the Cambodians are that they seem to be on board, with Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong saying in February “In the past, Cambodians have fled their country to other countries but now it's time that Cambodia takes in refugees from other countries”. T-Abbs has said he would welcome the decision of Cambodia to accept asylum seekers (how much are we paying them?) and made the point that people smuggling was a regional issue. The deal would see asylum seekers on Nauru settled in Cambodia, similar to the agreement currently arranged with Papua New Guinea (http://bit.ly/1huxIsr), and just as culturally appropriate.

–Australia’s relationship with Indonesia continues to be rocky at best, with the country’s Foreign Minister hinting that the success of Australia’s policy in deterring people smugglers is creating a backlog of stranded asylum seekers in Indonesia. Marty Natalegawa told media on Monday “A solution for one must not mean a problem for another… That's why it's very important to us to have the regional efforts, so we can be informing one another. This is the consequence of one side, at one end of the continuum, doing certain things”. Indonesia hasn’t been entirely happy with Australia since the Abbott Government’s policy of boat turnbacks meant frequent breaching of Indonesian territorial waters. Presumably Aussie tourist behavior in Bali doesn’t help either. Oh and that time we spied on the Indonesian President and his wife.

–UN investigators have been denied access to Australian detention facilities on Nauru—but it's not Australia's fault! According to New Zealand media, inspectors from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had just completed a tour of NZ with the intention of next stopping by Nauru, only to have their visit cancelled by the Nauruan Government. Nauru called bullshit on the UN, accusing them of creating a publicity stunt and saying they were never invited to visit the centre in the first place. After all, locking people up on Nauru isn't done arbitrarily. Maybe they should have sent the UN Working Group on Politically Expedient Detention instead.

–Asylum seekers taking up a legal battle against the Department of Immigration in the Federal Court can now do so from the comfort of the Curtin Detention Centre, a mere 4000 kilometres away from where their case was launched. The asylum seekers began their legal action after personal information was released online by accident. Lawyer Michaela Byers who represents 15 detainees criticised the Government, calling the relocation an attempt to prevent her from effectively representing her clients. The Curtin centre, located in remote Western Australia, is by no means an outback retreat—former Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock once called it Australia’s most primitive centre. On Saturday protestors, not quite dedicated enough to go all the way to Curtin, camped out overnight at the Villawood Centre in Sydney, and some got into a bit of a scuffle with riot police when they tried to block the driveway.

–University students have cemented the long running cliché of incorrectly thinking they’re smarter and funnier than anyone ever. Last week the Queensland University Liberal National Club posted a Facebook event for their annual pub-crawl that featured a fun and topical twist—an asylum seeker theme. The now deleted event described plans for a BBQ to celebrate 100 days without boat arrivals, an Operation Sovereign Borders patrol aboard a Brisbane CityCat and “smuggling” their way into bars, the post peppered with similarly hilarious jokes like seeking temporary protection in pubs, and towbacks if you forgot your ID. Surprisingly the event caused a firestorm on social media, where people who didn't understand how hilarious it was criticised them for insensitivity and trivialising the dangerous journey asylum seekers take. In the end the event was cancelled and the Club went on to apologise, almost.

Follow Mitch on Twitter: @MitchMaxxParker