Refugee plan backlash

[dreamer_easy]

The incumbent government's mad plan to send asylum seekers to PNG is coming under heavy fire. Paul Sheehan, a columnist with whom I usually have little patience, lets loose with an impressive gout of flame about the entire mess. Hell, I'm even gonna quote him:

"His Devil's Island tactic, putting asylum seekers in tents on a malarial island off the coast of an impoverished, violence-ridden state, is malevolent politics. He has made a massive bet that he can get away with this ploy before it can be tested by the courts, where it would almost certainly be rejected... Not surprisingly, there was a riot at the detention centre on Nauru on Friday night, leaving the centre destroyed by its inmates and a bill estimated at $60 million - to be footed by you."

Although Sheehan's real target is Kevin Rudd, to see a conservative columnist placing the blame for the Nauru riot on the Australian government, instead of using it as more anti-asylum seeker ammo, gives my jaded heart some hope.

Asylum seeker advertisements exempt from scrutiny because they were "too urgent". Really? Looks like we are in for an August election, then.