Boat People

The abject failure of the contemporary generation of Australian politicians to deal with the minor immigration problems of an island nation surrounded by hundreds of miles of ocean is uninteresting in itself. It seems as rewarding as inquiring into the failure of buffoons and incompetents in general.

The whole saga while tragic, is simply pathetic. It is revealing about the inadequacy and lack of depth of the Australian polity. Why do our contemporary politicians have so much difficulty in sending a clear message to potential refugees and immigrants wanting to settle in Australia? It’s plainly because they do not have the moral authority to do so. The ability of the media to drum up public opinion on the subject is also an overhang from a cultural paranoia that also stems from our insecurity and the illegitimacy of our claim to be here in the first place.

Our politics, our parliament and our nation are founded on a lie. This continent was occupied when our forefathers became the first illegal boat people to land on these shores. How can one set of illegal immigrants bar another group of illegal immigrants from coming to Australia? Furthermore what can illegal immigrants say about the values of the nation that prospective citizens should aspire to?

Our first settlements and institutions were created midst a wave of germ warfare, military action, legal fiat and authoritarianism. The pioneers of our modern nation state were mostly admirable, innovative people who were perseceuted in their home countries and revelled at the chance to make a life of their own. Nevertheless they were fighters for their own goods and chattels and the nation’s institutions were not created by visionary individuals. The one profound seer of the future,  Andrew Inglis Clark – the true writer of the Australian constitution - was overlooked in favour of more conservative overseers such as Sam Griffiths.

Without  solid foundation for our nation, that addresses how we took possession of the country, who are we to turn back boats? Who are we to process would-be Australians at Manus Island or Noumea or Malaysia? Why do we have to turn to other countries to do the difficult work of sorting out legitimate and illegitimate candidates for Australian citizenship?

The answer to all these questions and the immaturity of our responses lies in our complete lack of moral authority as a nation and it is more than anything a reason why we need to revise and change our  constitution. While the zoo of politicians cries, struggles and berates each other, we should ask the elders of Aboriginal communities in the north of Australia to manage Australia's immigration problems, after all, they have a wealth of experience dealing with illegal visitors and traders.