Dr. Short's 'Christian Advocacy" For Refugees And Contract Labour Is Still Propaganda By Another Name: We Reply.

Dr. J. Saleam / N. Favorito

Dr. Mark Short of St Paul's Anglican Church has criticised Australia First Party in the Daily Advertiser ( Wagga Wagga ) ( February 4 ). He has said that we have scapegoated outsiders and have behaved in a way that divides and so forth. He maintains he has upheld his Christian ethics as showing the true way to integrate refugees into this society and to address the problems of contract labour.

Dr. Short said:

"It seems our church is also of interest to the party as we received some comment in one of the first entries on their blog. Apparently it was considered noteworthy that we welcome people of all backgrounds, including African, into our common life. This surprises me. We are just a normal Christian church who believes that when Jesus gave us a command to "love your neighbour as yourself" he didn't add a footnote restricting its application to people of certain races, ages or backgrounds."

When a church interferes in politics - and the refugee program is politics and not some exercise in secular social concern - then criticism follows. The Christianity Dr Short puts up here is different in form from the one our forefathers, having embraced as it has, the new social agendas of the Australian liberal elites. We do not agree that Jesus preached unconditional acquiescence in injustice nor that love of one's neighbour implied extirpating one's own identity to win a brownie point in heaven. Our forefathers were Christians when they enacted the famous White Australia Policy and we doubt they are in hell.

In our view, there are Christians and Christians. Dr. Short's interpretation of scripture is simply - not ours. Nor is it that of a wide sector of Australians.

Dr. Short has raised an important point:

"My personal concern with the extreme right is that they offer inadequate solutions to real issues. Take contract labour, for example. If there is exploitation taking place in the system surely we need to address it directly, rather than scapegoat the very group ( immigrants and refugees ) who on Dr Saleam's own account are the victims rather than the causes of such exploitation."

Dr. Short is dead right. These contract labourers are, in one way, victims too. They do jobs underpriced, and are ripped off by their own and by unscrupulous employers, suffer long periods away from their loved ones and live in poor conditions. Our Australian "capitalist" system lets that happen.

We could ask, if we may be so bold, why such fine folks ever allowed themselves to be in a situation where they would disadvantage us ? Now, they might be desperate in their own way, but they still chose to come and effectively cheat us.

They are no saints either.

But we will not allow Dr. Short to suggest that we are blaming them alone. We are not. The great sin of contract labour is commited by those who profit by it and the Australian State which allows it to be.

Dr. Short said:

"Surely we need to ensure they have the language and other skills to be aware of their rights and obligations. Surely we need to support their emerging leaders so they can contribute to Australia through a wide range of community groups and professions."

Yes, but despite the lies of the union bureaucrats, they are cheap labour ultimately. They are easy labour and they undermine our system of labour - which was the very aim of the capitalists behind it. It matters not what skills they have with our language. Further, we are not interested in their emerging leaders. What ? We thought they were supposed to go home ? Contribute to what? To breaking what little is left of our trade union workforce and the achievements of our great labour movement of a centuary ago?

Dr. Short said:

"This is what we are doing and many others are seeking to do, and if Dr. Saleam wants to partner with us he's welcome to come down to Wagga and join me for a cuppa and chat. I'm sure he knows where to find me. Treating a person or group as outsiders and scapegoating them offers a tantalising but temporary relief for a community experiencing conflict or stress. Temporary, because in the end the real issues have not been addressed and they simply re - emerge."

No, no Dr. Short. We want the contract labourers gone - gone home. We want their jobs filled by a re - unionised Australian workforce. We want Centerlink unemployment rules restructured and we want university and TAFE rules recrafted such that Australian students can earn an income in regional Australia on a part time basis.

The real issue is globalisation and the loss of Australian economic independence. We know that. We want the protection of all Australian industry and the provision of a secure domestic market for the produce of Australian industry and labour.

No scapegoating here!

What we see in Dr. Short's criticism of Australia first - and in our reply - is that the battle lines are being drawn between those who think Australian and those who do not.

They may put it any way they like, but when they argue against us, these anti Australians create their own propaganda.

Dr. Short's church is engaged in justifying the unjustifiable and the culture busting of the Australian community in the Riverina. He seeks to impose not just contract labour, but "refugees" upon the area.

Let us conclude on this: we believe the treaties on refugees must be repudiated and refugees assisted to return home - with the intervention of the Australian military and other services in their homelands to facilitate their re - integration into their own countries.

We will go further. Certain Christians wish to "share" the bounties of Australia. Okay. We might pledge to establish a fund for the re-settling of refugees - from the assets of their former advocates in Australia! The expropriation of the liberal do - good group is not "legal" as matters stand today; but Australia may decend to real political and social disorder long before the political victory of the nationalists. Indeed, that is fairly certain. At that future time all might be possible. We have no problem with such a radical solution because we understand that the liberal group in Australia, having fought us tooth and nail for decades, would continue to do so after our political victory. Not all are motivated as is Dr. Short by the love of Jesus. Perhaps someone might write that we intend to scapegoat the liberal clergy too? Like the sometimes unquoted Jesus; we bring not peace - but a sword!