Australian Politics

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The Coalition are arguing "human rights" and "compromise". What stupidity from them.

Bob Katter has basically explained why offshore processing wouldn't work and why Malaysia might work. I'm also a little amazed to hear him claim that he potentially made a mistake when he voted against Malaysia the first time.

Also he looks funny without a hat.
 
That's what was so weird about the whole thing. Julie Bishop got up there saying they "won't compromise on human rights", and then blamed the government for "not compromising" in the very same speech.
 
I'm starting to wonder if there's going to be a split in the Coalition when this all comes down to a vote.
 
And Christopher Pyne once again acts like an idiot.

I agree with the Albanese. The Coalition are being inconsistent.
 
Wildy said:
I'm starting to wonder if there's going to be a split in the Coalition when this all comes down to a vote.
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If there is anyone with conscience in the Coalition, and someone crosses the floor, Abbott is gone I believe. Turnbull is sitting there twiddling his fingers.

What a charade. We have people losing their lives on the way to CI. A solution is at hand. Yet that toxic fool Abbott won't compromise for the sake of a handful of votes in Western Sydney.

Worst Opposition Leader ever. True Liberals should hang their heads in shame.
 
I'm very interested in clearing up what happened with Washer. From the ABC it sounds like he was planning on crossing the floor but changed his mind after Bishop gave him a kiss.

At least the bill passed the house. Hopefully it'll make it through the Senate, but that depends on either Coalition senators disobeying the Liberals or the Greens suddenly changing their mind (not bloodly likely though).
 
Wildy said:
I'm very interested in clearing up what happened with Washer. From the ABC it sounds like he was planning on crossing the floor but changed his mind after Bishop gave him a kiss.

At least the bill passed the house. Hopefully it'll make it through the Senate, but that depends on either Coalition senators disobeying the Liberals or the Greens suddenly changing their mind (not bloodly likely though).
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A kiss? The kiss of death more likely.

With Bandt's amendment getting up, maybe the Greens will vote with Labor in the Senate. I hope so, otherwise we will have more leaky boats and more deaths.
 
I only just realised that there are two Bishops on the Liberal frontbench, ha! Could you imagine getting a kiss from Bronwyn? If you got one from old Julie there, I've no doubt you'd turn into bloody stone.

I had to go to bed before I passed out, so I missed the denouement, but it sounds at least slightly exciting. I missed Hockey's "tears", too.

ETA: And yes, the Greens had better vote for it or I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed with them.
 
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It's getting close to the point where Abbot is looking like a liability as the election looms closer, isn't it?

I mean, as a keen Julia supporter I'd rather see hm stick around, and that can't be good.
 
The bill will fail in the senate.
Gillard fails the test again and proves she had no real interest in reaching a solution.
A true compromise would have met the one sticking point that stops the coalition from supporting the bill which is about sending asylum seekers to a country that is a signatory to the UN convention or at the least has some protections (eg. Nauru under the Pacific solution was run under Australian control).

Her stupid knows no bounds it seems.
Moreover her pleas around compromise and putting aside political point scoring prove a lie - and she has form.
 
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Places like Afghanistan, Nigeria and Columbia are signatories to the UN convention on refugees. Let's send them there.

The stance by Abbott is cynical in the extreme. Since when have the Libs been beholden to UN conventions?

The other group to come out of this shamefully is the Greens. They will never get their desire for onshore processing passed and they know it. In the meantime, they will just let people drown. Some principled decision that is.
 
By the way Alfie, do you actually know the Coalition policy? It's to tow the bloody boats back to where they came from including to Malaysia, regardless of whether these destinations have signed the refugee convention or not. Do you support this policy? A very simple question.
 
A.A. Alfie said:
The bill will fail in the senate.
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Well we'll find out later on today won't we.

Gillard fails the test again and proves she had no real interest in reaching a solution.
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So because the bill fails in the Senate it's her fault? Quite frankly if the bill that passed the House yesterday fails, it's the fault of Rob Oakshott, the author of the bill. And last time I checked he wasn't part of Labor.

A true compromise would have met the one sticking point that stops the coalition from supporting the bill which is about sending asylum seekers to a country that is a signatory to the UN convention or at the least has some protections (eg. Nauru under the Pacific solution was run under Australian control).
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Considering that when Scott Morrison was on 7.30 and was asked about Coalition support if Labor implemented Coalition policy, after deflecting for a bit he ended up saying:

Scott Morrison said:
No, what I'm saying, Leigh: the problem now is just not their policies and what they do, it's them themselves. This government is the pull factor. They are actually the problem. And they have no credibility now out there, I think, to pull virtually any measure off. Now I have very great confidence that if Tony Abbott and I were given the opportunity if we're elected that these measures would be absolutely successful, as they were last time when John Howard, Philip Ruddock and Alexander Downer constructed the arrangements we had last time and put them into place. I have great confidence in that.
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If you can't tell he's basically saying that the Coalition would oppose Labor implementing Coalition policy because they want to do it themselves.

If you look at how the Liberals have been acting in this term it's quite clear that they don't give a damn about the lives of these people, they'd gladly let more die if it means that they can go on the TV and claim that "the Government isn't doing anything" while opposing whatever the Government proposes.
 
Wildy said:
If you look at how the Liberals have been acting in this term it's quite clear that they don't give a damn about the lives of these people, they'd gladly let more die if it means that they can go on the TV and claim that "the Government isn't doing anything" while opposing whatever the Government proposes.
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Exactly. The boats arriving is good for Abbott, and the last thing he and his cronies want is for Labor to find a solution. How anybody sees it differently is absolutely beyond me.
 
Look, Malaysia may not be a perfect solution at all.
But it is a short term solution with Nauru thrown in if the 800 arrivals is breached.
Then, maybe, we can get a sane, sensible bi-partisan policy on refugees, working with our neighbours for a regional solution. It gives us, you know us, Australia, not them and us Coalition and Labor.
The Greens have gone for me, I did consider voting for them because I had no other choice. But no, will probably vote informal unfortunately unless a good competent Independent comes through in my electorate of Werriwa.
 
wombatwal said:
Look, Malaysia may not be a perfect solution at all.
But it is a short term solution with Nauru thrown in if the 800 arrivals is breached.
Then, maybe, we can get a sane, sensible bi-partisan policy on refugees, working with our neighbours for a regional solution. It gives us, you know us, Australia, not them and us Coalition and Labor.
The Greens have gone for me, I did consider voting for them because I had no other choice. But no, will probably vote informal unfortunately unless a good competent Independent comes through in my electorate of Werriwa.
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Well said wal.
 
Voted down 39-29. Of course Abbott is blaming Gillard for supposedly being "stubborn" and Gillard has, quite rightly, pointed out that Abbott keeps on going on about "stopping the boats" until he has to make a decision that could stop the boats.
 
The Greens and the Coalition now both have blood on their hands. A solution (perhaps imperfect) to stop the boats was at hand. Abbott is scum.
 
While I can agree that the Greens have blood on their hands, it isn't as much as the Coalition.

The Greens have never liked offshore processing or the Malaysia solution and so voted against a bill that they felt didn't represent the ideals of their party. Perhaps things would be different if their amendments had gone through but it didn't. I think the one increasing funding to the UN to help speed up processing in the camps in Malaysia and Indonesia would have done wonders in encouraging a regional solution to this issue.

There's really no excuse from the Coalition though. If human rights are now suddenly so important then they could have called for an amendment that required these deals to have a binding agreement on the other country to enforce those rights on the people involved. Instead they just wanted cheap goal scoring.
 
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