Philobiblon

Despite the rise of hideous American-style evangelical churches in the suburbs, fewer than half of young Australians believe in a god. Hopefully they’ll be joined by more of the young behind them and hopefully that will FINALLY mean the end of John Howard as PM. (He recently announced his intention to stand for a fifth term.)

He’s done such a good job on destroying Australia’s human rights – as illustrated by the treatment of child asylum-seekers, who have been thrust into detention, not given any help or support. Last year there was a small change made, so they would be only detained “as a last resort”. But now, the government is planning to change the law again, so they can be locked up in some Pacific Island hell, with little or no access to lawyers or support services…

Dozens of children were shipped to the island processing centres under the old “Pacific Solution” – whereby the navy intercepted asylum seekers before they had actually reached Australia. For the children processed offshore, the record of success in gaining refugee status has been much worse than for the children who made it to the mainland and were detained in centres in Australia. Of the 55 unaccompanied children sent to Nauru, more than half were sent back to Afghanistan, compared with none of the 290 unaccompanied children processed in Australia, Crock’s new book, Seeking Asylum Alone, reveals. The Government put the kids through hell in Australian detention centres, often over years, and none escaped emotional scarring. But in the end, they got to stay. It is not clear what happened to the children we sent back to Afghanistan.

Is it any wonder that young Australians are questioning “Christian values” such as Mr Howard’s….