Culture

Tony Abbott Is Telling Europe To Be More Like Australia And Turn Back Asylum Seekers

He's baaaaack!

by Meg Watson  28 October 2015

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If you feel as though you haven’t heard much about stopping boats lately, it’s because our former Prime Minister has been literally roaming the inland plains of the Scottish countryside discovering a whole new world of defensive fortifications.

After being ousted from office a little more than 6 weeks ago, Tony Abbott has been visiting the UK and this week took a leisurely trip to Hadrian’s Wall. As it combined his love of things that are both ancient and designed to keep people away from him, it seems like he had a very good time.

However, it now seems as though he’s bounced back to his old self. Speaking at an event hosted by London’s Margaret Thatcher Centre overnight, Abbott delivered his first full speech since offering his resignation from office and stood by all his decisions as Prime Minister.

Comparing his government to that of Thatcher, he noted he had “stopped the flow of illegal immigrant boats, because a country that can’t control its borders starts to lose control of itself”; he “[repealed] the carbon tax that was socialism masquerading as environmentalism”; he had fixed the budget and had made “free trade agreements with our biggest markets to increase competition and make it fairer”.

Then, in a room full of high-profile Tory and conservative politicians, he asked everyone to follow his lead. Speaking specifically about the recent refugee crisis he urged European government to adopt Australia’s immigration policy.

“All countries that say ‘anyone who gets here can stay here’ are now in peril, given the scale of the population movements that are starting to be seen,” he said. “No country or continent can open its borders to all comers without fundamentally weakening itself. This is the risk that the countries of Europe now run through misguided altruism.

On a somewhat smaller scale, Australia has faced the same predicament and overcome it … It’s now 18 months since a single illegal boat has made it to Australia. The immigration detention centres have all but closed; budget costs peaking at $4 billion a year have ended; and — best of all — there are no more deaths at sea. That’s why stopping the boats and restoring border security is the only truly compassionate thing to do.”

Identifying altruism as a worthwhile Christian principle, Abbott acknowledged the nobility and kindness of many European nations during this humanitarian crisis, however quickly went on to condemn it.

“The imperative to ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself” is at the heart of every Western polity,” he said. “It expresses itself in laws protecting workers, in strong social security safety nets, and in the readiness to take in refugees. It’s what makes us decent and humane countries as well as prosperous ones, but — right now — this wholesome instinct is leading much of Europe into catastrophic error.

“Our moral obligation is to receive people fleeing for their lives. It’s not to provide permanent residency to anyone and everyone who would rather live in a prosperous Western country than their own. That’s why the countries of Europe, while absolutely obliged to support the countries
neighbouring the Syrian conflict, are more-than-entitled to control their borders against those who are no longer fleeing a conflict but seeking a better life.

“This means turning boats around, for people coming by sea. It means denying entry at the border, for people with no legal right to come; and it means establishing camps for people who currently have nowhere to go. It will require some force; it will require massive logistics and expense; it will gnaw at our consciences — yet it is the only way to prevent a tide of humanity surging through Europe and quite possibly changing it forever.”

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A Few Things To Consider:

— Our detention centres are not “all but closed”. Nauru has been re-classified as an “open centre” but there are still hundreds of refugees stranded on an island nation, some of whom are being allegedly denied urgent medical care.

— Despite boasting about his allegiances with other Western nations, he didn’t once mention the fact the most prestigious newspaper in the US called his immigration policies “brutal” and “inexcusable”, or that time the UN decided our treatment of asylum seekers violated the convention against torture.

— I’m not a religious person, but I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to rubbish scriptures like this:

In response to Abbott’s comments, more than one Catholic priest has now told Fairfax they are “absolutely astounded” and “appalled”. “I’m ashamed that a former Australian PM would be putting out a message like this,” said retired Bishop Pat Power. “People will make their own judgements but that’s completely at odds with what’s at the heart of Christianity. I’m certainly offended.”

— Abbott had also expressed similar points at a think-tank event the night beforehand. Here, he took some happy snaps with conservative politicians who looked mighty impressed by the whole thing — one of whom was the Migration spokesman for UKIP: a party whose top Google search result has been recorded as “is UKIP racist?”

— We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this kind of stuff. The former Prime Minister this week became listed as an official speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau and has the option of charging more than $40,000 per appearance.

It’s hard to imagine anyone will be getting value for money.