A resident of Niddrie in Victoria had the stamina to write to 45 Senators and to Bill Shorten about some basic facts concerning boat people.
She asked just two simple questions:
1. In your personal opinion, are asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat treated humanely?
2. Do you consider that people who arrive in Australia informally and seek asylum should be called “illegal”?
For those in doubt on the second question, it is important to note that people who arrive in Australia informally and seek asylum commit no offence under Australian law.
The results of her efforts were disappointing, for two reasons.
First, because most simply did not reply. You would hope that our elected representatives would have the courtesy to reply to a letter from a member of the public, espoecially on an issue which is so divisive.
Second, because most of those who did reply simply did not answer the questions.
Here are the ones who did not reply at all. Note their names. When they ask for your vote, ignore them:
Senator BACK LNP (Lib)
Senator BERNARDI LNP (Lib)
Senator BILYK Labor
Senator BIRMINGHAM LNP (Lib)
Senator BRANDIS LNP (Lib)
Senator BROWN Labor
Senator BULLOCK Labor
Senator BUSHBY LNP (Lib)
Senator CAMERON Labor
Senator CANAVAN LNP (Nats)
Senator CARR Labor
Senator CASH LNP (Lib)
Senator COLBECK LNP (Lib)
Senator COLLINS Labor
Senator CONROY Labor
Senator DASTYARI Labor
Senator EDWARDS LNP (Lib)
Senator FAWCETT LNP (Lib)
Senator FIERRAVANTI-WELLS LNP (Lib)
Senator FIFIELD LNP (Lib)
Senator GALLAGHER Labor
Senator JOHNSTON LNP (Lib)
Senator LAMBIE IND
Senator LAZARUS IND
Senator LINES Labor
Senator LUDWIG Labor
Senator MACDONALD LNP (Lib)
Senator MADIGAN IND
Senator MARSHALL Labor
Senator MCEWEN Labor
Senator MCGRATH LNP (Lib)
Senator MUIR AMEP
Senator RONALDSON LNP (Lib)
Senator MASON
Senator LUNDY
The following senators replied, but did not answer the questions asked:
Senator CORMANN did not answer questions
Senator DAY did not answer questions
Senator FAULKNER did not answer questions
Senator KETTER did not answer questions, but says we must treat refugees in a “dignified, humane way”
Senator LEYONHJELM did not answer questions
Senator MCKENZIE did not answer the questions, but refers to people entering the country “illegally”
Senator MCLUCAS did not answer the questions but says Labor is driven by “compassion, fairness and generosity”
Bill Shorten MP did not answer questions, but says we must treat refugees in a “dignified, human way”. Several paragraphs are identical to corresponding paragraphs in Sen Ketter’s letter
These three are in categories of thir own:
Senator HEFFERNAN said it is illegal to enter Australia without a visa (he supported this by reference to international instruments, not Australian law
Senator RYAN said it is illegal to enter Australia without a visa (he supported this by reference to international instruments, not Australian law, says the government is “committed to treating (asylum seekers) in a fair, respectful and humane manner”
And finally, Senator ABETZ answered yes to each question!
The bottom line is that most of the Senators are too discourteous to respond, and the rest are too ignorant of the facts to answer truthfully.
And it is distressing to think that some senators are so blinkered that they can take shelter behind the tired old line that we treat asylum seekers in a “fair, respectful and humane manner”.
But, undsr ss 13 & 14 of the Migration Act, any non-citizen within Australia (well, the migration zone, but let’s not go down *that* rabbit hole) who does not have a visa is defined as an “unlawful non-citizen” (and s189 subjects those persons to mandatory detention and s198 requires their removal from Australia).
I’ve always understood the “illegal” usage to be a layman’s reference to this statutory concept of “unlawful non-citizen”.
We as the electors of this country voted these idiots in so we only have ourselves to blame. At future elections, be they Federal, State or Local we need to all individually do our research on the candidates and vote for only those who will diligently and honestly represent us, the people. The time for apathy and donkey voting is over. We can all now plainly see at all levels of government the results we get for our laziness.
I wrote to 5 politicians in January asking about the treatment of children. The only one to answer was Abetz but he didn’t answer the question so I wrote again and he didn’t respond. Very disappointing that politicians cannot respond to those who elect them
Have had similar results but answer from Muir. Sen often won’t answer if not from their state. Take matters up with local MP and ask them to enquiry from relevant minister. Got a banal answer this way from Dutton. He has the classiest paper of all MPs!
Good info. Lucky me I discovered your site by accident (stumbleupon).
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