Patrick McGorry has his immigration priorities all wrong, argues James Darby.
Professor Patrick McGorry, newly appointed Australian Of The Year has said asylum seekers had experienced severe torture and trauma in their home countries and that people in detention needed to be processed quicker and while living in the community.Professor McGorry is concerned about the mental health of Asylum Seekers and will lobby the Australian Government to release these persons into the Australian Community to be processed for settlement here. He wants to close Christmas Island.
My view is that these kind and unrealistic views expressed by The Professor are extremely counter productive to the future well being of Australians.
The Professor could have served the interests of Australia better by naming the countries from whence these tortured and traumatised Asylum Seekers have come.
What are their occupations, their language and their religions?
How many of these invaders does the Professor expect Australia to release into the community? Can The Professor tell us how many would come to Australia if the solution for processing illegal refugees, Asylum Seekers, boat people, queue jumpers, is to "release them into the community for processing"?
Because the Professor wishes to be so generous at someone else's expense it is surprising that he has not suggested that these people are flown into Australia as the boats that they intend to arrive on often sink.
The Professor has not named the Countries from which these people come or the numbers of people who would come. You work it out. Indonesia hosts citizens of many Countries whose populations dream of escaping to Australia. Then you have virtually every Country from Viet Nam to Turkey. Then just about every African Country. There are about 15 million Philippinos who will come to Australia tomorrow. Let's not start on the Red Chinese. The poverty, the religious fanaticism, the torture and the trauma created by the various forms of socialist Governments is not the responsibility of Australia.
I do agree with the Professor that detainees should not be 'kept' on Christmas Island.
They should be returned to the last port of departure and their boats seized and scrapped.
Accepting that Australia has entered into international obligations to accept refugees, let us allocate all those places to Christians who are suffering persecution.
James Darby is a former farmer, sales trainer and PR Consultant. He is currently a mortgage locator based in NSW.
