1. The recent detention of world-famous tennis player, Novak Djokovic raised questions about Australia’s long-term detention of 32 immigrants / refugees in Melbourne’s Park Hotel. What is the way forward for Australia in processing refugees in a more ethical way? 2. Do you believe vaccination should be made mandatory for all students and staff at the University of Adelaide? 3. What is your take on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 and the ability it has afforded schools to exclude students, based on their sexuality and gender identity (if they identify differently to their biological sex)?
LRC 90.1 Greens Club
1. The first thing we would like to stress here is that the best thing the Australian Government can do for refugees is stop creating them by aiding and abetting countries like America, Saudi Arabia, and France in their destructive military and economic crusades, primarily directed against innocent people in Africa and the Greater Middle East. Additionally, Australia’s climate destruction is creating climate refugees. When it comes to future refugees, Australia needs to finally turn away from its deeply racist and fascistic policy of indefinitely imprisoning refugees on hyper-exploited tropical islands.
2. Yes, baring legitimate medical exemptions. This is an unfortunate reality of the State Liberal Government’s importation of COVID-19 from interstate to please wealthy donors. Other people’s right to safety and security in their place of learning is not trumped by anyone else’s pseudo-scientific choice to compromise their health.
3. The fight against religious discrimination is an important one, particularly for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious minorities here in Australia. However, it does not take precedence over the right of other groups to not be discriminated against, particularly the LGBTQI+ community, which is rightfully concerned and who already face significant stigmatisation. The fact that this has already led to discrimination by religious private schools against students shows that this Bill ought to be scrapped and re-written entirely. Organised religious institutions already have too much power and not enough accountability. This Bill, in its current form, is a Trojan horse for hate.
Socialist Alternative 1. Djokovic may have returned home to his mansions, but refugees continue to languish in torturous conditions. This is the outcome of a deliberately cruel and racist policy of mandatory indefinite detention championed by both the Liberal and Labor parties. All refugees imprisoned in the Park Hotel and detention centres such as Manus Island and Nauru should be freed immediately and given full citizenship rights. Capitalism relies on war and militarism, cultivating nationalism and enforcing borders that are open for profit and commodities, but not for ordinary people. Activists shouldn’t support a slightly more “ethical” processing regime, but instead oppose the entire detention industry that flows from this barbaric system. We are inspired by the inspiring resistance of refugees themselves, despite years of imprisonment. Let’s free the refugees and fight for a society that no longer creates them.
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