Who’s afraid of refugees. The following resolution was carried by the Blue Mountains City Council at its meeting on July 20.

That Blue Mountains City Council:

  1. Reaffirm its status as a Refugee Welcome Zone.
  2. Notes that Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees and demands that the policies of all parties be amended to conform to this important International Statute.
  3. Reject insinuations that Greater Western Sydney is a racist area.
  4. Notes that Western Sydney is the most culturally diverse community in Australia and has a proud history of welcoming new citizens.
  5. Will write to the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader informing them of the above.

So if it is not the people around the councils of the Blue Mountains, and no doubt other parts of the western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne who are frightened of refugees arriving on their river shores to take over their business and start building mosques where once a church stood, then who are Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott addressing with their rhetoric?

The ex-Hansonites? Those who take a passing interest in politics at election time but don’t involve themselves in organised politics such as the local council? Those who are not well educated on Australian history? Those who harbour all sorts of resentments about race, religion and politics? If these are the people that Gillard and Abbott are addressing then surely the obligation is on them to be leaders, persuaders, educators and initiators of community education about asylum seekers.

But it is difficult for governments to address the scapegoating of refugees by some members of communities when governments themselves have created the problems, or allowed long-standing problems to exist without being addressed due to poor planning, budget stringency, hostile adversary politics from their Opposition, and/or commitment to economic rationalism. That may involve a government admitting they have not done enough for these communities since their foundation, and that is not something any government or opposition want to admit at election time. Much easier to send refugees to Timor or Nauru! — Jenny Haines from Labor For Refugees

The powers of logic. A big welcome to the Secular Party, which will be taking part in its first election as a political entity come August 21. Penelope Green is one of the lambs selected to be sent to slaughter, as she tries to take on the big two of the Greens’ Adam Bandt and Labor’s Cath Bowtell in Melbourne. But if media releases are any guide, then the Secular Party must be a dark horse on logic alone. According to the presser: “Green first became aware of the pervasiveness of religion when she discovered at age eleven that she was Church of England despite never having been to church or England.”

S-x Party want real action. You’ve gotta hand it to the S-x Party, it keeps on battling along. Here is its latest suggested effort at convincing punters:

sxpartybillboard

Punters back Labor. Labor looks to have finally turned its campaign around, with Sportingbet Australia slashing its price for the ALP from $1.65 to $1.50. Sportingbet CEO Michael Sullivan said that he took more than $100,000 on Labor yesterday, despite the party being friendless since the leaders’ debate a fortnight ago. “Nobody has had any interest in Labor for the last two weeks, but two positive polls and what appears to be a Coalition costing blow-out has brought the punters flooding back to them,” said Sullivan in media release.