Friday, February 08, 2008

With the demise of the Pacific Solution its time to keep my own counsel

Media reports of the last of the asylum seekers leaving Nauru today appears a fitting point to call a halt to my musings and critique of the previous Government's human rights abuses. My role in the Pacific Solution stirred me to end my APS career and do something to balance the ledger. My admiration goes out to those who took a stand against the Howard experiment. My intervention was minuscule in comparison with the efforts of some brave souls.

Much remains to be done to put this country back on an acceptable footing when it comes to treatment of refugees. Mandatory detention is an open sore that continues to fester. I will continue to lobby within ALP circles for changes on that front, but this blog is not the preferred vehicle. The potential role of the processing centre on Christmas Island is troubling and will have to be watched closely.

To regular readers, thanks for your interest and support. I have found the process both rewarding and frustrating - my mind is far from made up on the scope for blogs to reach beyond a converted audience to wring real changes in attitudes and opinions. It is a wonderful tool to proffer, collect and store information in a readily accessible format, and it provides a virtual 'speaker's corner' and printing press for the frustrated polemicist and pamphleteer lurking in all of us.

Doubtless much of what was written in mine and other blogs would strike the Bard as "...a tale … full of sound and fury; signifying nothing."

G'day and good luck...