Tony Abbott: Stop Trashing Australia's International Reputation!

Recently, the United Nations stated that Australia had lost its moral compass.  This makes me ashamed to be an Australian. However, Australians like you and I, did not vote at the last election for a government under Tony Abbott that would enact policies so inhumane, that the rest of the world would watch on in shock and horror. Tony Abbott's policies are totally out of step with most of the modern world, as the wellbeing of Australians and the people of the world, and basic human rights, which should be the highest priorities of a country like Australia, are totally disregarded by him. 

Examples of such policies include;

1). The sending Sri LankanTamil asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka where there is a very real risk they will be tortured, arrested or just disappear without trace.

Recently two Tamil asylum seekers who were to be sent back to Sri Lanka killed themselves by setting themselves on fire, such was their fear of being returned to Sri Lanka.  The process of sending asylum seekers back to danger is called 'refouelement' and it is a serious breach of international law.

2).Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka.

Many other Commonwealth Prime Ministers boycotted this meeting as a protest against human rights atrocities still perpetrated by the current Government.  British Prime Minister David Cameron attended but only so he could protest in person about the human rights atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan Government. Mr Cameron even visited areas where Tamils live and are persecuted, in a show of support for them.  However, Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop, not only attended the meeting, they also congratulated and praised the current Government.  Additionally, Tony Abbott literally condoned the Sri Lankan Government's use of torture on its peoples - as Mr Abbott said, "Sometimes a government has to do difficult things".

3).Australia voting against an indepedent inquiry into Sri Lankan Government war crimes.

A report recently produced by Michael Kirby, ex High Court Judge, on behalf of the United Nations, found that Sri Lanka had a case to answer to, for war crimes and continued persecution of Tamils.  In a vote by the United Nations member countries which number at around 80, Australia was one of only 3 countries to vote against an independant investigation of these war crimes.

4). Australia's asylum seeker policy or 'Operation Sovereign Borders' being the cruelest asylum seeker policy in the world. 

Right now small countries which are very economically poor, unlike Australia which is the third richest country in the world at this time, are providing for asylum seekers as best they can with their limited resources. For some of these countries, providing for the safe haven of asylum seekers has increased their usual population by a whopping 50% or more. These countries do not send asylum seekers back to the danger they fled from, nor do they keep them locked up in indefinite detention. Australia's current asylum seeker policies breach numerous international treaties and covernants to which Australia is a signatory, and possibly even breaches our own Constitution, which specifically provides that punitive detention of non-citizens, which is not authorised by a court, is illegal.

5). Australia's Royal Navy towing boats back to Indonesia. 

By doing so, Australia is actually engaging in human trafficking, which is also a very serious breach of internationa law.

6). The murder and assault of asylum seekers on Manus Island.

Recently, under the watch of the Australian Government an innocent asylum seeker died, one lost an eye and dozens more were injured.  Yet no-one in our Government has taken responsibility for this tragedy. The buck stops with the Government.  They were the ones who contracted out the services and wrote the policies for those working with the asylum seekers. Australia took these asylum seekers and forced them into custody which Mr Morrison oversaw - he is therefore, vicariously liable for this murder and the injuries to the other unfortunate men. Yet all he has done is deceive, blame the victims, switch the blame to contractors, duck and weave around the truth, and take no responsibility whatsoever for his policies.

In addition, Australian tax payers pay $400,000 per year to keep each asylum seeker locked up off shore and yet the Australian public is kept in the dark about how that money is being spent. It costs a significantly lower amount of $100,000 per asylum seeker, to provide them with safe haven in the community, rather than detention. Finally, if the Government had not decided to stop processing these asylum seeker claims they would have been processed by now and the Australian tax payers would not still be paying to keep innocent asylum seekers in detention.

7). The appalling conditions for asylum seekers on offshore detention centres.

The United Nations and Amnesty International have both been extremely scathing of the impoverished and inadequate facilities provided for asylum seekers.  They do not have access to adequate medical care, they are overcrowded in hot, humid tin sheds, like sardines in a tin, some don't even have sufficient drinking water, pregnant women receive little medical care and are sent back to detention when their newborns are just a couple of days old, inaccompanied children are indefinitely detained and are subject to physical and sexual abuse and families are split up.

8). The deliberately misleading, vilifying and discriminatory terminology used regarding asylum seekers.

The terminology adopted by the Abbott Government such as "illegals", "boat people", "queue jumpers" etc. are an appalling attempts by this Government to vilify and degrade these suffering human beings in the eyes of the Australian public.  The fact is that these people have fled dangerous countries and that is not an illegal act.  It is also not illegal to seek asylum in countries that are signatories to the United Nations Refugee Convention, which Australia is. It is not illegal to come by boat or any other method, so long as these people are genuine refugees and asylum seekers, which around 90% of them are found to be. There is no queue - this is a total myth created by the Australian Government. The fact is, that if all asylum seeekers waited in Indonesia until their claims had been processed, at the current rate of processing, it would take 76 years for their claims to be processed. During this time asylum seekers in Indonesia can be arrested and beaten, and are not allowed to access employment or have their children attend school. If these asylum seekers waited in the 'so called' queue, they and their families would all be dead before their claims were processed.

9). The Australian Government voting against an international treaty to end slave and forced labour.

A recent International Labour Conference meeting in Geneva, delivered a new treaty to end forced and slave labour.  The United Nations member countries voted on the enactment of this treaty. Whilst the Australian delegates representing workers and employers voted for the enactment of the treaty, the Australian Government, was on its own with the Government's of few other countries, when it voted against it.  Our Government didn't like the fact that the treaty mandated countries to adhere to it - Australia wished it to be a voluntary adherence, which would have meant that nothing would change where forced and slave labour is rife.

10).The  Australian Goverment dropping the word "Occupied".

Recently the Australian Government has decided to drop the word 'occupied' with regard to the Palestinian Territories. This is despite the fact that the United Nations has ruled in the International Court of Justice that Isreali settlements are in fact occupying land which is part of Palestine, and that Isreal, in doing so, is in breach of international law. By taking this action, our Government is demonstrating its support for the Isreali Government's illegal take over of Palestinian sovereign land.

11). The appointment of the new "anti" Human Rights Commissioner.

Mr Abbott has appointed a new Human Rights Commissioner from a right wing think tank that denounces human rights policy. This is like appointing the hyena to watch over the helpless, blind, newborn cheetah cubs.  It is not surprising then that this Commissioner is supporting a move to change the Racial Discrimination Act, thereby allowing bigotted Australians to legally racially slur other Australians. Once again,such policy is against the spirit of international treaties to which Australia is a signatory.

12). The appalling behaviour of the Australian delegates to the International Climate Change Forum.

Last year the International Climate Change Forum met. We know that climate change is going to be a huge humanitarian challenge, whereby places flood constantly, islands will disapppear under the sea, food will become scarce in some places as it can longer be grown in traditional areas, wild fires will wipe out communities, clean safe drinking water will be scarce and disease will ravage those flooded areas, and kill people who have poor nutirition and contaminated drinking water. Lives, homes and livelihoods will be lost at an ever increasing rate.

Despite this, the Australian Government did not send any Minister to this Forum.  The delegate they did send, spent their time at the forum disrupting the decision making processes and frustrating those countries that were serious about tackling climate change. They reportedly rocked up in pyjamas to meetings and laughed and joked while other countries told of their dire plights caused by climate change and their grave fears for the future.  The Australian delegate won the gong for the worst behaved country at the forum, 5 days out of 5, as well as the overall gong for the country deemed to be the largest 'climate dinosaurs' in the world.

13). The trashing of World Heritage sites.

The Abbott Government has ignored UNESCO's warnings about trashing the Great Barrier Reef and recently made a submission to the United Nations to have Tasmania's World Heritage listed forests delisted, so they could be cut down and made into paper. The United Nations were scathing of the Abbott Government's submission to rip apart these magnificent forests, not so politely suggesting that the Government had lied and attempted to mislead them, and it took the UNESCO Committee less than 7 minutes to rule against the Australian Government's submission.

14). Making the poor and disadvantaged pay, while handouts are given to rich internationally owned mining companies and the financial interests of huge profit making corporations are protected.

The recent budget announced by the Abbott Government is nothing but an attack on the least able, the disabled, the poor, students, the disadvantaged, and the elderly. Whilst Australians in these categories are likely to be at least $5,000 poorer each and every year that Mr Abbott is PM, Mr Abbott and his colleagues will be only $1,400 poorer, and only for one year. How is this fair?  In addition, the Abbott Government currently provides rich, internationally owned, mining companies with huge subsidies amounting to billions of dollars every year.  The Abbott Government protects the big 4 corporate banks from public scrutiny and plans to make it easier for these banks to swindle investors out of their life savings, by loosening the consumer protection laws around financial advice and the conduct of financial advisors.

15). Defunding legal and community services for Indigenous Australians.

It could have been expected that when Mr Abbott nominated himself as the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, it was because he was actually keen to help the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Instead, Mr Abbott has taken a chainsaw to vital community services, including health and legal services, which had proven track records of achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous communities. Indigenous people's have a far lower life expectancy than the average Australian, have poorer levels of educational progress and are way too highly represented in jails.  It is the services that address these very issues in Indigenous communities that Mr Abbott has defunded.

16). Australia has one of the lowest rates of foreign aid of any OECD country.

Australian dollars go a long way in poor countries of Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa and South America. Prevention costs way less than cure.  Australia's aid contibutions pay for vital services such as vaccinations, education, housing, clean water supply, sustainable food production, and community health clinics and hospitals.  Despite the fact that Australia is currently the third richest country in the world, it is now one of the lowest foreign aid contributors per gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. Not only has the Abbott Goverment reniged on an Australian promise to lift its foreign aid contribution to 0.5 % of our GDP, it has reduced aid even further, down from the existing .37% of GDP. Additionally, the Australian Government is now demanding strict proof indicators that such aid payments are having a positive impact or it will withdraw aid. For small volunteer organisations with extremely limited resources, to be expected to keep records such that the Abbott Government now demands, will take more money from these programs, than our aid will actually deliver, thereby reducing the actual outcomes of this aid. This is just another ploy by the Abbott Government to provide an excuse for reducing foreign aid even further.

There are numerous other examples I could draw on, but I think I have said enough.  It is now time to act.  It is no wonder, given all the above, that the United Nations is hugely critical of Australia. But this is not the Australia I wish to live in. The values of this Government do not represent my values. Mr Abbott claims he has a mandate for his policies.  I don't remember him going to the election last year with a promise to trash Australia's international reputation and turn Australia against the rest of the world, instead, siding with Governments that torture their citizens, and that take over other countries at whim.

We need to let Mr Abbott, his henchmen, and one woman Cabinet know, that he does not have a mandate to trash Australia's international reputation and turn his back on the basic human rights of all Australians and peoples of the world.  Please ask Mr Abbott to dig deep into his christianity to find love, empathy and dignity for all humankind.  Please sign this petition, and make a comment to let him know how you feel.