Pixelated Semantics

Rejoice because we are free?

In a development in the Rau case (that even the conservative Channel 9 TV news last night called "chilling") Man of Steel said in Parliament yesterday he "cannot guarantee" no other Australians have been wrongly held in immigration detention centres. The Inquiry into the detention of Ms Rau is also going to be held in secret, far from being transparent and accountable. It's been revealled that the alarm was raised only a month after her original detention, but her case appears to have deliberately been overlooked. Howard's statement that "it is not possible for anybody in my position to give an absolute guarantee. I can only express the hope that there are none others" clearly implies that the government has abdicated control of their own detention and immigration system, combined with the failure to apologise (again), ought to be keeping Australians awake at night wondering what has happened to their "democracy" and to accountability of their "representatives". As Margo Kingston writes, its a sick joke. Vanstone's bluster and Howard's convenient myopia leave all the important questions unanswered. As usual.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 9:48 am ::