Mischa Schubert of the Age reports a heated Coalition party-room debate over asylum seeker policy Coalition split on asylum seekers
Liberal MPs Petro Georgiou, Russell Broadbent and Judi Moylan spoke strongly against the position proposed by the shadow ministry.
Philip Ruddock, former immigration minister at the time of the introduction and enforcement of the egregious asylum seeker laws, charged that changes to immigration laws when Labor was last in office had been part of the catalyst for the rise of Hansonism.
Pauline Hanson, in her maiden speech to federal parliament in 1996, revived the claim that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians, and later, as leader of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, summarised her refugee policy as ‘meet (the boats), fuel them, feed them, give medical supplies and send them on their way’.
When she asserted that under her party the entire humanitarian program would be replaced by temporary refuge, the then Minister, Phillip Ruddock, resiled from this proposal, calling it ‘unconscionable’
Hanson’s subsequent electoral success influenced both Labor and the Coalition to increase the severity of their refugee policies.
By 1999 Ruddock had overseen the introduction of the new Temporary Protection regime, amongst other measures modelled on Hanson’s rhetoric. Be alert and alarmed if you remember the TPV
But it wasn’t his fault – Pauline made him do it
A possie in Aussie 
I had the misfortune to share a table with Ruddock at a business dinner when he was the minister for xenophobic populism. Although I didn’t chat with him for long, the few minutes we did talk didn’t convince me he was anything more than an arrogant, mean-spirited, pseudo-intellectual lawyer representing a nasty client.
Infamous for his hypocritical back-flip on human rights, leading to the shame of going from being an Amnesty International member to Amnesty International Persona non Grata, he represents everything politicians are criticized for.
To this moment, he doesn’t do interviews – he pontificates from an isolated, windswept, quarantined paddock of unreality.
It’s long past the time for him to follow the other dead weights of Jurassic conservatism – follow Costello, Nelson, Downer and others to the real world and feast on the riches of being an ex parliamentarian.
Comment by David — October 23, 2009 @ 10:51 am |
Very funny! ‘Minister for xenophobic populism’!!
I remember Phillip Adams saying that he used to be a friend of Ruddock’s, and when he asked him why he had become so right wing in his handling of asylum seekers, Ruddock told him that there are things one has to do if one wants as ministry.
Nayano
Comment by nayano — October 23, 2009 @ 11:41 am |