AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS AND THEIR BOATPEOPLE OBSESSION

The politicians of the two mainstream parties in Australia, Liberal and Labor, have worked themselves up into a frenzy as they battle each other to see who can make life the most miserable for boatpeople in order to attract a vote from the Australian people as they head to the polling booths in three weeks time. To listen to the debate during this campaign one could be forgiven for thinking that the upcoming election is more of a referendum about boatpeople than the political future of Australia. It seems almost as though Australians are being asked to decide how best we can make life as difficult as possible for people who come to Australia by boat – and all this on the pretext of ‘stopping the drownings’.

The ‘stopping the drownings’ argument is a furphy, however; the drownings can be stopped instantly by the simple expediency of either flying asylum seekers to Australia or providing seaworthy boats.

Politicians are also exaggerating the boatpeople impact on Australia’s immigration policy. Labor’s Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr, has stated that boatpeople could account for some 20% of immigration to Australia. This is just fearmongering nonsense. The figures suggest something different. At worst, if boatpeople arrivals continued at the same rate as the first six months of this year with some 13,000 boatpeople arrivals, then boatpeople over the year would account for less than 13% of Australia’s nominated intake of 210,000 for the year – a number that can easily be absorbed into the Australian community across the nation.

Despite the impression Australian politicians want to give about boatpeople, the reality is somewhat different. According to the Australian ABC’s Vote Compass project, which at last look had attracted some 780,000 respondents, Australian’s biggest concerns by far is the economy – not the boatpeople issue.

So, who are driving the politicians over the boatpeople issue if it’s not the Australian people?

The answer is simple: it is the extreme right-wing commentariat, particularly those within the Murdoch empire such as Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair, Piers Akerman, Janet Albrechtsen, Gerard Henderson, et al, who dominate Australia’s media. By writing opinion pieces that are anti-boatpeople and then running public opinion polls that reflect their views they give the impression to politicians that the boatpeople issue is the main concern for Australians and that they don’t want boatpeople in Australia. Because to say so outright gives the impression that this reflects a racist attitude, all sorts of excuses are used to deflect the accusation. These include: stopping the drownings, (a current favourite in the light of recent tragedies); that boatpeople are queue-jumpers, that boatpeople are really economic migrants, and so on. The real reason, of course, that the noisy minority don’t want boatpeople in Australia is because they are not white European people as will be the vast majority of the 210,000 migrants who would otherwise make up the quota for the year.

It’s as simple as that. Why the non-Murdoch media can’t face up to this reality and call it as it is – racism – is beyond me. What’s to be scared of?

Australian politicians are making political mountains out of boatpeople molehills.

ANDREW BOLT: QUINTESSENTIAL PAID MURDOCH MINION

Ever wondered why Bolt is so anti-renewable energy? Have you wondered why he’s so anti-Carbon tax and why he’s a climate change denialist? We all know why he’s anti-boatpeople and against respecting the rights and heritage of Aboriginal people and demeaning of African and Islamic people – it’s because he’s a racist, but do you know why he’s so anti-green energy and generally such an avid anti-environmentalist?

The problem with non-renewable energy resources – apart from polluting our atmosphere as it gets used and being… well, non-renewable, as in; once its gone, its gone; that’s it, there’s no more – is the fact that the non-renewable resources industry is dominated by big money, and I mean really big money. In fact, the amounts of money we’re talking about are so huge that those who benefit from it are prepared to do anything to protect their interests in it. In fact, they are so intent on protecting their interests in it they are prepared to go to war for it.

However, they also have other ways of protecting their interests.

Going to war is not too much of a problem for those at the very top end of the non-renewable resources business, afterall, they don’t actually have to pay for the war; the blood and treasure that pays for war comes from ordinary people. But then, how do you get ordinary people to do that?

Well, that’s where people like Bolt come into it. They’re propagandists. Their job is to persuade you to support their interests. Their job is to influence public opinion to the point that the public will support their interests and support actions that protect their interest.

War, though, is not always an option. People won’t accept the idea of simply paying for and dying for a war that only makes the rich richer. There has to be an ulterior motive that the propagandists can work on in order to persuade the people to support such a war – retaliation for an attack against your country or a tyrant to topple. The propagandist’s art is to make it seem as though war and the reasons for war are spontaneous when in fact they are well planned prior to the events. For example, did you know that the US planned to attack the Taliban government of Afghanistan well before 9/11? And did you know that the neoconservatives backed by big oil interests had been looking for an excuse to get into Iraq ever since the first Gulf War?

Propagandists like Bolt were there to support the lies and distortions then and today is no different –he’s still there writing lies and distortions for the man that pays him.

Bolt is being paid by Murdoch to spin lies about climate change and the associated policies designed to protect our environment. You see, Murdoch’s interests are not just in the media and entertainment business; Murdoch also has interests in the resources business. He is a substantial shareholder in a shale oil company called Genie Energy. And, have you ever wondered why Murdoch is so pro-Zionist despite not actually being Jewish? It’s not because he’s a Christian Zionist; it’s because he has a substantial interest in a company called Israeli Energy Initiatives, Ltd.

Today, Bolt has bent over backwards to protect Murdoch’s non-renewable energy resources by endorsing Murdoch’s tweets about Carbon Tax which, of course, goes hand in hand with their denial of climate change and the stance against sustainable energy technologies and just about anything that smacks of ‘green’. But what Bolt fails to mention is Murdoch’s interests in the oil and gas industries.

The bottom line is; Andrew Bolt is paid directly to write propaganda that protects the non-renewable resources interests of his boss Rupert Murdoch and Murdoch’s associates. It’s as simple as that no matter what way Bolt cares to spin it.