Dutton simply perpetuates cruelty

Our minister for xenophobia, Peter Dutton, doesn’t seem to be able to tell the difference between a migrant and an asylum seeker. He doesn’t understand that some people have the time and relative security to apply to migrate to Australia, while others who are faced with an immediate threat to their health and wellbeing need to escape their countries quickly and in any way they can, including in leaky boats. The walloper in Dutton believes that seeking asylum is tantamount to a criminal act and, as such, deserves punishment. It is a familiar meme, particularly among conservative politicians who believe that people under stress, such as welfare recipients, are to blame for their circumstances and need to be dealt with harshly for their own good. Behrouz Boochani (“Manus prison theory”, August 11–17) makes the point that there is a danger that the cruelty overseen by Dutton on Manus and Nauru is “in the process of replicating itself throughout Australian society”. It is a good point, but I suspect that it might be the other way round; that the cruelty already inherent in our welfare systems was simply applied by our government to asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru. That Boochani has managed to write a book about his time on Manus in secret using nothing but his mobile telephone is a remarkable achievement. That he has survived punitive imprisonment on Manus for five years and retained his sanity is also remarkable. He is not alone, of course. All of the asylum seekers who have survived on Manus and Nauru must be remarkably tough and resilient. Sensible people have been calling on our government to bring the asylum seekers to Australia on compassionate grounds for a long time.

I’ve developed a slightly different view. We don’t need to bring them here because we feel sorry for them. We need to bring them here to inject a bit of grit and backbone into our society. We need people like Behrouz Boochani in Australia. We need people like him much more than we need people like Dutton, Turnbull, Shorten and others in Canberra and elsewhere who purport to be our leaders. Those people imprisoned on Manus and Nauru are heroes. We should celebrate them, not punish them.