Downer, Burma, refugees and guano

Photo: The Age

Hands up if you think Alexander Downer is charismatic - with or without the fishnet tights? Mmm...no hands up people and you are looking puzzled. Miss Eagle is not sure if he has great intellectual capacity either.

We know the Howard Government has great difficulty with refugees - actually the Howard Government has great difficulty with people, particularly people who are not Anglo, not rich, not powerful. But Downer has put his foot in his mouth this time. He reckons that we can't take all the refugees in the world (duh!) but we should focus on Burma and take refugees from there.

What a difference a headline makes! No, local headlines won't do. They have to be international - and preferrably supported by George W. Bush and Condi Rice. So Burma and the Burmese become the flavour of the month.

Meanwhile, in the real world - where people other than Alexander Downer live - the words Burmese and refugee are lived out experiences for some people - not mealy-mouthed words in the face of a sanctimonious Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs. You see, dear Reader, there are Burmese refugees left to rot in that very strange place where no shit actually describes its landscape, Nauru.

So this Foreign Minister who speaks loud and long of "experience" and the need for it as an echo of His Master's Voice, John Howard, clearly cannot hold two consequential thoughts in his mind to make some sort of sense: refugees Burma.

• They're here already, Alexander Downer.
• You ignore them already, Alexander Downer.
• You are full of guano, Alexander Downer.
• Suggest you take up residence on Nauru, Alexander Downer.
• You clearly have the capacity, Alexander Downer, to make renewable deposits of guano such that the economy of Nauru could be easily revived.

Dissenting Jewish voices

In all the debate on the Iraq War, US foreign policy and US support for Israel has become increasingly focussed. In recent times, dissenting Jewish voices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia (those great allies in the Coalition of the Willing) have come to the fore.

In Australia, the ABC's Religion Report on Radio National has devoted three programs in recent times to this topic. Go here, here and here.

George Soros has now entered the fray.

Jews in western democracies who have become sycophantic and chauvinistic in their defence of the state of Israel need to do a rethink. The inherent racism in Israel; the religious discrimination in Israel including against Jews; the failure of Israel to consider the aspirations and needs of others beside themselves need to be addressed.

Consideration needs to be given to how helpful it is for democracy when, in a place such as Australia, Jewish funding - and through such funding influence - of political parties is well in excess of their demographic representation.

Democracies are in danger when money - whether it is corporate, Jewish or from some other source - can buy and influence political parties in excess of voting representation within the community. The balance of community representation and political funding must be maintained equitably. Otherwise, the situation can develop - as in US foreign policy - where the interests of citizens is overridden for the sometimes nebulous idea of "the national interest".

Would we know good governance if we see it?

Miss Eagle finds herself focussing more and more on the topic of governance. So it seems about time to discuss what governance means. Miss E's ancient Concise Oxford Dictionary (Sixth impression 1978) gives the following definition:

n. Act, manner, fact, or function, of governing; sway, control

The phrase "corporate governance" has entered the language in recent years following spectacular failures in governance and oversight across the globe.

Miss Eagle has been discussing governance in the public sphere; in particular, in the state and federal governments of the Commonwealth of Australia. In Australia, there are quite a few runs for poor performance getting up on the scoreboard.

Governance is a simple word. It differs from the word Government which relates more to(definition thank s to the old COD):

1. System of governing, form of organization of State.

2. Body or successive bodies of persons governing a State; the State as an agent; and administration or ministry.

Another term for governance in the public sphere (as opposed to the corporate or business sphere) is Public Administration.

Australia has produced some fine servants of the public who have exhibited a high level of administrative expertise in the public interest. Miss Eagle thinks of her hero, Nugget Coombs;

Sir John Crawford; Sir Lenox Hewitt OBE (father of British politician, Patricia Hewitt); and John Menadue. Perhaps there are, as this is written, distinguished men and women beavering away within bureaucracies of state and federal government.

However, life has moved on in public administration. Most heads of department are on timed contracts. They are dependent on their political masters to renew their contract. Prior to the introduction of timed contracts, public servants were tenured. The contract system has allowed a thorough-going politicisation of the public sector. (Yes Miss E knows that politicisation did precede the introduction of contracts but it is Miss E's view that politicisation was not on the same scale as that which prevails now.) Time and again public administration in Australia seems to demonstrate master-pleasing advice and action rather than the old "without fear or favour" culture.

The servants of the public are not acquitting themselves well. Instance the equivocation, cover up, inaction, avoidance and blurring by DFAT bureaucrats before the AWB inquiry.

Miss Eagle is not the only with a point of view about governance in Australia. Over at Casting a short shadow, Miss Eagle discovered a reference to a speech by Lieutenant General John Sanderson, AC given as the Annual Oration 2007 to the Order of Australia Association entitled Federal Renewal and Unity in Reconciliation: a return to government by the people.

Miss Eagle is happy to forward a copy of this speech to readers if they email their requests to Miss Eagle's email address which is accessible if you look under the AusFlag logo on the sidebar.

BILL FARMER, HEAD OF DIMIA RESIGNS POST

The Prime Minister, John Howard to-day announced the resignation of Bill Farmer AO from his position of Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. See New Senior Appointments - 10 July 2005. Ordinarily, this would be a matter for much rejoicing in those seeking reform within the Dept of Immigration. However, his departure has been suspected as being imminent for two reasons:

1. He apologised to a Parliamentary Committee
2. He received an AO at the recent Queen's Birthday awards.

Awards are not unusual prior to the resignation of a senior public servant or their transfer to a significant overseas posting. In this case, Bill Farmer will become Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia. This posting need not be seen as unusual since his service prior to DIMIA was with the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT). If there is anything punitive in these changes to Bill Farmer's career because of the massive failures within the operations and organization of his department, it is not evident.

As a Christian and a practising Anglican, I have been particularly disappointed in the handling of immigration matters because Bill Farmer is the spouse of an Anglican priest in the Anglican Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn and because the excesses under his leadership also occurred under the ministry of that other well-known Anglican, Philip Ruddock, now the Commonwealth Attorney-General.

All of us can be forgiven and all of us deserve the right to a clean slate and a fresh start. I hope that Bill Farmer has been able to learn from what has occurred within the Department of Immigration and understands how the Department he led has been the bureaucratic hand of gross injustice. I also hope that his new position gives him more time for biblical study - in particular, I hope he has a glance at the references in the Old Testament on how the Lord God of Israel instructs us to care for the sojourner - because you were once sojourners. The New Testament could provide material for reflection - particularly the matter of Jesus, with his parents Mary and Joseph, fleeing persecution to become asylum seekers in Egypt. There is no mention of how the Egyptians treated this little family of refugees but clearly they were not locked in interminable detention and were, at an appropriate time of their choosing, able to return. And thereby hangs a story! Now, Bill, narrative theology is a worthwhile pursuit. Listen to the stories.