Lies, damned lies and political platforms.

[deathpixie]

Turns out that one of the major points the Liberal Party used in it's election campaign - that asylum seekers were throwing their children overboard from their leaking boats in an effort to force Australia to rescue them and so accept them - was a little shy of the truth.

As in, it never happened at all. Pictures showing children and parents in the sea were taken the day after the alleged event, when the boat actually sank and they had to be rescued any way. There's a whole lot of backpedalling and excuse making right about now.

I'm not sure which I find more disgusting: the fact that a political party used lies to stir up bad feeling against the asylum seekers - many of whom were from Afganistan - at a sensitive time; or that it worked. Bad enough that our government was elected on a racist platform, worse that the majority of voters proved so easily manipulated by a polictical party as stupid as the Liberals. And stupid they are - this is just the latest in a series of disclosures of things they've done really wrong.

Some days it's hard to retain my faith in humanity.

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Comments

You expected better from politicians?

[(Anonymous)]

Come on girl, you know better than that. September 11 was a political exercise to them, not a tragedy.

Wondermouse

Re: You expected better from politicians?

[deathpixie]

The politicians, no. I trust John Howard as far as I could kick him (and isn't that an entertaining thought!), but I did kinda expect more from my fellow Australians. Guess I don't like admitting my country can be as conservative as little Johnny's Fifties fantasies.