A nation
of
Kapos?

A streak of cruelty runs through Australia
Harold Hark
13 September 2002

The fundamental elements of every Coalition policy are the preservation of power and the gradual strangulation of the working class through implementations of the cold-blooded free market enterprise championed by the Mad Thatcher. However, when the going gets tough, even the ideology gets dumped.

A year after Tampa and nothing has changed for a majority of Australians. According to Dennis Shanahan (The Australian, 5 September 2002), "All the revelations about the Coalition's use of misleading 'children overboard' photographs, the $500 million cost of the Pacific solution, the drowning deaths of 350 asylum-seekers last October and the protests and break-outs at detention centres have not made any difference to public attitudes towards asylum-seekers.

"Strongest support for turning away all boats and keeping all asylum-seekers in detention was found among Coalition supporters, 56 per cent and 66 per cent respectively."

What John Howard has tapped into here is a streak of cruelty running through the Australian psyche.

We read of orphaned children being told that the devil will turn into a dog and tear out their throats, of children being sexually abused, flogged, threatened and intimidated in the care of the Church, of children being taken from their parents because they were Aboriginal, and being forced to walk on their knees for hours while holding metal rails above their heads. These are the cruelties we associate with Nazi Germany. But they dot the landscape of Australia's history with sickening regularity.

Yes, many were instituted by the Church, but just as many were instituted by government decree. We have heard these rumours for years and have said nothing.

Why? For the most humiliating of all reasons: Because we don't care. And the fact that we don't care is made clear by this latest Newspoll, showing that a majority of Australians still support John Howard's and Heil Ruddock's concentration camps.

What John Howard has brought to the Illiberal Party is the "Il" at the beginning of Liberal. He has caused the worst among us to rise to prominence. Their antisocial voices are the role models for our children. They have no principles and it is to be assumed that their supporters have none as well.

One ray of hope from the Newspoll: Australians aged 18-34 have the highest levels of support for releasing all detainees.

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