'Stop bombing, start resettling' - Jeff Kennett on the Syrian Refugee Crisis

"So for goodness sake, spend that money on setting up the camps to process these people and bring back 50,000 who want a new life and new hope."

"There will be always be people who oppose, and there are always going to be some bigots, but leadership rises above it and the Australian public is desperately crying out for leadership,"

"The Federal Parliament has failed, absolutely failed, the people of this country for a decade,"

 

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

 

Syrian Refugee crisis: Australia Welcomes you if you're Christian

The Abbott Government wants to limit any intake of Syrian refugees to minorities which are largely Christian, as passions run high in the Coalition over the way Australia should handle the crisis in Syria.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is under pressure to increase this year's humanitarian intake of 13,750 people, but has postponed a decision while Australia consults with the United Nations about what to do with the refugees. 

Labor is pressuring to increase the intake of 10,000 people, while the Greens want 20,000.

There is also a debate over numbers what kind of refugees Australia should be accept.

Government ministers, like Malcolm Turnbull, want more Syrian Christians, while Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has asked for minorities like the Yazidis.The Abbott Government wants to restrict any intake of Syrian refugees to minorities which are largely Christian, as passions run high in the Coalition over the way Australia should handle the crisis in Syria.

Mr Turnbull has expressed concern about the plight of Christian communities in Syria.

"They are a minority, they survived in Syria, they've been there for thousands of years, literally since the time of Christ," he said. 

"But in an increasingly sectarian Middle East, you have to ask whether the, the gaps, the spaces that they were able to live and survive in will any longer be available."

Senate Leader Eric Abetz has also wants Christians to be prioritised.

"It should be on the basis of need and given the Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, and especially in the Middle East, I think it stands to reason that they would be pretty high up on the priority list for resettlement."

Ms Bishop wants to offer both temporary and permanent protection options for those fleeing the crisis.

"I think that Christian minorities are being persecuted in Syria and even if the conflict were over they would still be persecuted," she said.

"So I believe there will be a focus on ensuring we can get access to those persecuted ethnic and religious minorities who will have no home to return to even when the conflict is over.

"That includes Maronites, it includes Yazidis, there are Druze, there are a whole range of ethnic and religious minorities that make up the populations in both Syria and Iraq."

Labor believes emphasis on helping Christian refugees is "dangerous"

"Being a victim of war doesn't know a particular religion," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said.

"If you're a woman facing terrible crimes to be committed against you, if you're a child, a little child, potentially drowning at sea, I'm not interested in their religion, I'm interested in their safety."

Refugee Council chief executive Paul Power said it is "natural" to expect a large number of refugees will be Christian, but focusing on the group is likely to do damage.

"I'm sure one of the consequences is that extremists within Syria and other parts of the Middle East will use this as a weapon against Syrian Christians," Mr Power said.

"They would use it as an argument to push the view that the west cares about Christians and does not care about Muslims and other religious minorities."

Coalition MPs, in this morning's party room meeting, suggested the Government fast-track a planned increase in the number of refugees it accepts.

Cabinet will discuss the issue tomorrow morning and there is a suggestion the party room may meet again before an announcement is made.

Speaking from Europe, Mr Dutton said he would hold talks with the United Nations refugee agency and other organisations on how Australia could help.

"There's more to be done and the Australian Government's very keen to have discussions with the UNHCR, with our partners otherwise, to look at what more we can do," he said.

"We'll be focusing our attention particularly on the families who are in the refugee camps along the border of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey."

Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi said persecuted minorities must be the focus on Australia's efforts.

"The Christians in the Middle East are among the most persecuted people on Earth," he told the Senate. 

"If we can provide safe haven to them, then I say we should do it. And that is what the Prime Minister has said."

Senator Bernardi also questioned the motivation of thousands of those who are trying to enter Europe.

"This seems to me to be becoming an opportunistic cycle which is masking the true humanitarian need that is the responsibility of all Western nations," he said.

"That is the challenge for us — to distinguish between those who are being opportunistic and those are truly in need."

Richard Marles has described Senator Bernardi as an "embarrassment" to the Government and his comments "reprehensible" and out of kilter with community sentiment.

Government backbencher Ewen Jones said Australia had the capacity to take up to 50,000 refugees. 

But the calls for ever larger intakes were rebuffed by another Coalition backbencher, Andrew Nikolic.

"We will do this is an evidence-based way," he said.

"We're not going to do it in a way with this rhetoric of trying to out-compassion each other."

Original Article by political reporter Anna Henderson and political editor Chris Uhlmann ABC

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Jake Bilardi. Why would a gifted student from Craigieburn join ISIS?

Neighbours and friends described Jake Bilardi as, “shy and confused”. He was living with two older brothers and a sister after his mother died in 2012. One of Jake's classmates said, “He was ­really smart but seemed to get even quieter after his mum died."  

So why would a gifted Atheist teenager from the Melbourne suburb of Craigieburn convert to Islam, join ISIS and become a suicide bomber?

If you ask Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, it's the use of social media by ISIS to radicalize impressionable young people that is the problem. I don't think that it's that simple. So if joining ISIS is seen as the solution for young people all over the world then what is the real problem? I mean you would have to be mad, a lunatic or in a pretty desperate situation to join ISIS.

In an article written by Kenan Malik in The Guardian titled "A search for identity draws jihadis to the horrors of ISIS", it discusses why middle class, English speaking background and non practising Muslim people are joining ISIS.

It can't be what is written in the Koran that is the lure, after all there has be a high population of Muslims  in western countries for many years now and this is a relatively recent problem. An examination of the purchases by some young recruits from England before they travelled to Syria discovered they purchased books like "Islam for Dummies" and "The Koran for Dummies". In other words, they had little or no understanding of Islam before travelling to Syria. So if Islam is not the problem, what is?

Malik's article discusses alienation, isolation, apathy and disconnection from society. It's not politics or religion but the search for belonging, the search for respect, something that we can all identify with, that convince young people to travel to Syria. Some of the entries in Jake Bilardi's blog, as quoted in The Guardian say, that he felt that his home, "wasn't really his home". "It has gotten to the point where it feels like I am on a movie set."  Going by these quotes coupled with the loss of his mother, it would seem that a perfect storm was created where by the sense of belonging to a group like ISIS was desirable. 

We all know that killing people is wrong but we can't solve the problem of young people joining ISIS by condemning individuals or blaming social media. We need to deal with the context in which it occurs. If you treat people like outsiders they will feel like outsiders and they will seek belonging elsewhere. Many young people around the world feel disengaged from society and seek to join groups such as ISIS where they can feel like they belong, they have a purpose. 

What Malik's article tells me is that our society is broken, it isn't working, the system isn't working, it's totally corrupt. If the insanity of ISIS can appeal to a certain section of the population we have a huge cultural problem. As a society we need to create a better alternative to ISIS and fix the problems that make joining ISIS the only solution. Until we do, the problem of young people joining ISIS will continue to escalate.

The Origin Of ISIS

This video by Ben Swann investigates the origin of ISIS. Was ISIS created by "Inaction" by the United States Government or by "direct" action?

 

Like Us On Facebook