Senator slams Rudd's PNG dump plan calling it radical, right-wing and hard-line.
Prime Minister Rudd’s refugee announcement is Australia's day of refugee shame, Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.
“A rich country like Australia paying off a poor country to take our desperate refugees is passing the buck and an abrogation of our responsibilities to people and the international community,” Senator Milne said.
“It’s not a regional solution, but a radical, right-wing, hard-line response. Manus Island will be Australia’s gulag in PNG.
“Many people will feel ashamed and disappointed at the decision to dump some of the world’s most vulnerable people on one of the world’s most impoverished countries.
“Once again Labor has failed to have the courage to stand up for what is right.”
Greens Immigration spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Kevin Rudd’s hard-line means a ‘horrible line’ for refugees.
“This is a rush to the right, a rush to refugee cruelty so that Kevin Rudd can rush to the polls,” Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“This heartless policy will cost Australian taxpayers billions of dollars at the expense of our values of fairness and compassion.
“Permanently resettling refugees in Papua New Guinea is no way to respond to people seeking protection.
“The government can't have it both ways. It has already said it's sending people to PNG as a cruel punishment, now it wants to say it is an appropriate place to permanently resettle refugees.
“What Mr Rudd should have announced today is commitment to a genuine regional approach that cares for refugees with the kind of political leadership shown after the Vietnam War.
“While PNG have signed the Refugee Convention, their commitment to it in practice and their capacity to implement it is fraught.”
More info: http://christine-milne.greensmps.org.au/latest-news
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Kevin Rudd unmasked as overbearing, dysfunctional, self-obsessed
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Greens policy sounds just like an Abbott 3 word slogan
I would like to see the Greens policy on asylum seekers. A "genuine regional
approach" sounds just like an Abbott 3 word slogan rather than a serious
answer.
The reason that there was a bipartisan approach on Vietnamese refugees was
because the Labor Party supported the Fraser government policies as had
always been the case before Howard happened.
I see the Greens heading towards a similar ending to the Democrats. Wringing
their hands while they basically support coalition policies as with the 10
point plan and the GST. These days the Greens are siding with Abbott on
Climate Change, asylum seekers and paid parental leave. The whole scenario
of Climate Change and Asylum Seekers has been orchestrated by the Coalition
and Rupert Murdoch , and nobody believes that Abbott will tax Big Business
to pay parental leave.
If Abbott wins he will run over Milne as he backtracks.
Laurie Forde
A little partisan blindness, Laurie?
A little partisan blindness, Laurie? Rudd is a mirror to the Australian population since his PNG
'solution' has sent his numbers skyward again. The aim is to head off Abbott - tarring the Greens
with the Coalition brush is avoiding the issue as well as dishonest. One cannot excuse the PNG
'solution' by attacking the Greens. As you well know, people vote against certain things for vastly
different reasons and lumping them together because the result is the same is dishonest and
misleading.
I could be wrong and I often am but I have a sneaking suspicion that Rudd is using shock tactics
in order to overcome the stalemate in the asylum seeker issue. It is having the desired result. The
humanists' protestations is convincing the redneck voters this for real and even better than what
Abbott is promising but can't deliver because he's put Indonesia off-side. I think in this case the
coalition has a better fix on what is happening than the public but they come off sounding like the
same negative lot they've been for the last 3 years.
Trudy Bray
If you walk and quack like a duck, you’re a duck
Trudy,
I don’t think reality should be described as “partisan blindness” or that accusing the Greens of acting with the Coalition on a number of issues is ‘dishonest and misleading”, when that is what they are doing.
I reckon if you walk like a duck and quack like a duck, for all intents and purposes, you’re a duck.
If the Greens actions give the same result as the Coalition, their reasons for so acting don’t matter. The result is the same.
If someone sticks a knife in your back, the reason is irrelevant. The result is what counts.
I have always believed in taking a step forward when possible.
Remember the Republic? Here we are almost 20 years later welcoming the birth of another Royal parasite to rule Australia.
So much for the attitude of all or nothing.
Laurie Forde
The Greens' plan on asylum seekers
Laurie
Here's a link to the Greens plan on asylum seekers:
http://greens.org.au/our-plan-save-lives
You are dead wrong to suggest that The Greens are siding with Abbott on climate change. That's ridiculous. They strongly oppose his "direct action" plan:
http://nsw.greens.org.au/policies/climate-change-and-energy