Sense and compassion needed

There was a sentence in your editorial (“Onwater martyrs”, May 28–June 3) that made me laugh, namely, “You can take off your

‘I’m with stupid’ T-shirt”. This referred to Labor now no longer needing to side with the opposition, particularly on refugee policy.

No, it doesn’t, and you rightly criticised Richard Marles for his “absolutely no change” statement when change was exactly what the country had just voted for. Indeed, far more compassion is needed on refugee policy. Those on bridging visas should be allowed to work. People should not be allowed to languish either in detention or in the community for years without a decision about their future. Australia is still a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and should abide by its principles. Nevertheless, we simply cannot have an “open border” policy. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “82.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced at the end of 2020 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order”. Most were internally displaced within their own country but onequarter were actual refugees, that is, had crossed a border. Many more are displaced by natural disasters; for instance, just last week, millions were left homeless by heavy rains and flooding in Bangladesh. Australia simply cannot take everyone. A more generous humanitarian program is warranted, say 20,000 annually, but that is a drop in the ocean of need. Thus, we have to lift foreign aid massively to help people who are displaced for whatever reason. But it is not unreasonable to control our borders. It just has to be done with both sense and compassion for those fleeing desperate circumstances.

– Jenny Goldie, Cooma, NSW