It is a miserable thing to report, but our politicians who inflict unspeakable misery on refugees are apparently not willing to explain themselves.
An Australian citizen recently wrote to six Federal MPs asking a couple of very simple questions. Each letter was less than a page long. Five of the six MPs simply ignored her letters. Apart for being bad manners, it shows utter contempt for the electorate. The worst offenders – the ones who simply ignored the letters – are:
Josh Frydenberg – ignored every letter
Kevin Andrews – ignored every letter
Sarah Henderson – ignored every letter
Michael Sukkar – ignored every letter
Alan Tudge – ignored every letter
The only MP who responded to the letters was Barnaby Joyce. He referred the letters to the Minister for Immigration.
Have a look at the list below. See how simple the questions are.
If Federal MPs are not willing to answer sensible, simple questions like these, they do not deserve to be in parliament at all.
| MP | Question | response |
| Kevin Andrews | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | did not respond |
| Josh Frydenberg | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | did not respond |
| Sarah Henderson | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | did not respond |
| Alan Tudge | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | did not respond |
| Barnaby Joyce | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | referred question to Minister of Immigration |
| Barnaby Joyce | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children? | referred question to Minister of Immigration |
| Kevin Andrews | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | did not respond |
| Josh Frydenberg | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | did not respond |
| Sarah Henderson | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | did not respond |
| Alan Tudge | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | did not respond |
| Barnaby Joyce | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | referred question to Minister of Immigration |
| Barnaby Joyce | Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people? | referred question to Minister of Immigration |
| Kevin Andrews | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | did not respond |
| Josh Frydenberg | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | did not respond |
| Sarah Henderson | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | did not respond |
| Michael Sukkar | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | did not respond |
| Alan Tudge | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | did not respond |
| Barnaby Joyce | Do you believe people commit an offence by arriving in Australia without permission and seeking asylum? | non-responsive answer, referred question to Minister of Immigration |
| Kevin Andrews | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | did not respond |
| Josh Frydenberg | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | did not respond |
| Sarah Henderson | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | did not respond |
| Michael Sukkar | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | did not respond |
| Alan Tudge | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | did not respond |
| Barnaby Joyce | How much does it cost each year to pursue our policy of deterrence of boat people? | non-responsive answer, referred question to Minister of Immigration |
I am trying to sponsor a friend of 20 years for an humanitarian visa to Australia. We submitted the application in March 2014 and apart from acknowledgement of the application, have heard nothing since. In May 2015, I wrote to Peter Dutton, Malcolm Turnbull, Richard Marles, Tanya Plibersek and Michelle Rowland. Michelle Rowland answered almost immediately, but only to say that they could not access any information on our case. Peter Dutton’s office replied on June 10 with a form letter outlining the vast numbers of applications for the relatively few visas available and instructed at the end of the email not to reply as there would be no further response from them. Malcolm Turnbull and Richard Marles have still not responded. Yesterday, Tanya Plibersek’s office sent a long and detailed response after having looked into the case. While the news was not encouraging, I appreciate that her office actually took the time to investigate and find out of they could help the situation. In short, they can’t.
I find it frustrating that both sides of government engage in fear-mongering about “the boats” and “illegals” while doing nothing to facilitate a timely response to those who do follow the government’s preferred path for seeking asylum. My friend and his family are UNHCR registered refugees in Lebanon, having fled for their lives from Syria.
Out of desperation, I have now set up a GoFundMe appeal for my friend to raise money to show his intent and ability to start a business in New Zealand, where we can then help him apply for a Long Term Business Visa. I am sharing the link everywhere I can in the hope of getting more donations to help this good and hard working family find safety in New Zealand. http://www.gofundme.com/helpRabia
The absence of empathy and compassion is disturbing.
Psychopath
noun
1.
a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.
The hat almost fits……..
This is a serious problem within Australia in my opinion. To have questions ignored by politicians and ignoring legitimate concerns of tax payers is a matter of national security. I personally feel exploited and short changed and want to take action to ensure that our politicians up hold their oaths to the respective office.
As representatives of our community, my expectation of an MP, state or Federal – would be some form of response. Call it good etiquette; call it leadership; call it serving the community – but the reason such representatives undertake such a privilege warrants good communication with the public they serve.
The big coverup. Can’t talk about it. Secret meanies business. Lib & Lab in it together. Abominable.
I am surprised that you did not expect such a non-response from the politicians concerned.
And even if a response were to be provided, what stock could one have in it? It would either be weasel words that said nothing, or views that would be changed as the circumstances required. This is an entirely untrustworthy government.
dear Julian.
I stumbled upon this campaign upon reading over your tweets. Two times last year I asked Josh, via an email to explain his parties treatment of asylum seekers. I cannot recal what my first email question to him was but I did just read over is email response which I still have. His response was to ask me to confirm what my street address was. I did this however he did not follow up with a response to my question.
The second time I emailed I asked ‘I would like to know what you, as my local member believe in terms of how we should treat people who come to our shores fleeing, overwhelmingly , persecution’ .
I did not hear from him.
I wrote a letter to my local MP in SA, Mark Butler. Someone from his office replied with a rather generic response regarding the party’s position on Asylum Seekers. I am going to try a follow up letter which re-states my question.
Good on you. Don’t give up: they depend on people running out of energy