Melbourne barrister and human rights advocate Julian Burnside says Australian parliamentarians have forgotten how to be compassionate towards other human beings.
He was speaking about Australia’s treatment of refugees, and the difference to policies in other countries, such as Scotland, where they have been generous in their resettlement of refugees.
Speaking to The Scotsman on how he accounted for the difference for the recently released film Border Politics, Mr Burnside recalls, “He said ‘they’re human beings, they need help.’ And I thought wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear an Australian parliamentarian speak like that, but you don’t hear it.
“It’s the key message in a single sentence; it’s what we need to understand. But we seem to have forgotten it.”
Mr Burnside has worked pro bono for many refugees and acted in high profile cases including for the Ok Tedi natives against BHP, for Alan Bond in fraud trials, for Rose Porteous in numerous actions against Gina Rinehart, and for the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores.
Mr Burnside will be speaking at a lunch at the Royal Hotel in Springwood on August 26 upon invitation from the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group.
The film in which Mr Burnside traverses the globe examining treatment of refugees, has been shown in capital cities in sold-out sittings and will eventually be released online and introduced in schools.
“The way things are going it’s the next generation that’s going to have to fix this all up,” Mr Burnside said.
“Unfortunately I feel that in a generation from now people will be standing back and saying ‘what on earth did they think they were doing, jailing innocent people, mistreating them, treating them as hostages to deter other people from coming to Australia.’ It’s remarkable, almost unthinkable.
“Calling boat people illegal when they don’t commit an offence is terrible. It’s just an excuse to lock people up,” he said.
Vigils were held around the country in July for the 12 asylum seekers who have died in offshore detention centres.
“With both major parties singing from the same song book on the issue it’s hard to work out what will actually make a difference and that raises a really, really difficult challenging question. If you’ve got a government which is willing to deliberately harm innocent people for a political purpose, what’s to stop them from harming another group of innocent people for political purpose?” Mr Burnside said.
He likens the unrest over immigration in Hungary to anti-Semitism.
“They’re having explicit anti-Muslim rallies, trying to create fear and hatred of Muslims, and really it’s Islamophobia which I think is the new great threat to civil rights in the world today. It’s a repeat of anti-Semitism and that’s very uncomfortable.”
Mr Burnside invited those who disagree with his views to come along to the talk in Springwood.
“Challenge me by all means, ask questions, get them to show me I’m wrong and if they show me I’m wrong I will change my view.”
The event is a fundraiser for the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group’s activities. Limited tickets remain and can be purchased online at: www.bmrsg.org.au/events/ or from the Turning Page Bookshop in Springwood or Megalong Books in Leura.
