Steph, our South Australia biographer and screenplay writer, responds to my request for comment concerning the widely publized telephone call last month between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Australia. The call resulted in disharmony with Trump challenging an agreement for the USA to take a thousand or so refugees stranded on an island in the Pacific. We thank Steph for her take on the situation. - Glenn N. Holliman
Hi there Glenn
The launch of my book went extremely well, and at last I have the mental strength to pen a few words re. the Oz attitude to Trump’s reluctance to accept x number of refugees from Oz in a deal made by Turnbull and Obama. Our PM Turnbull did not want to break his policy and allow any boat people to become citizens of Australia. As soon as he does that, even with one baby, the floodgates will open once more and we will be besieged by boat people. As sorry as I feel for the boat people as individuals, there are other refugees who are waiting in line in camps, and have been doing so for many years.
Can you spot the colorful creature in Steph's garden?
So! Turnbull is dead scared that Trump will actually override the deal – at the moment these stranded refugees (mostly young Middle Eastern men) are holed up on Mannus Island and on Nauru, but this is becoming more and more untenable as they roam around and (understandably) feel frustrated and angry. Now, I understand that only those refugees on Mannus and Nauru who have been vetted thoroughly, will be allowed to go to the US if Trump allows it. BUT, there your President has a problem. If he allows this deal, he himself will be breaking one of his campaign pledges, and so far, to many Australians’ amazement, he has set in motion exactly what he said he would. Naturally he doesn’t want to be seen by his supporters to renig on his promises, even if it is to help an old ally.
Letter writers to our newspaper have been all singing the same tune – whether or not you like the man himself (and few here would want him as a friend), and whether or not you like his policies, he has been true to his word. They are asking ‘What is wrong with wanting to strengthen border controls in one’s country to make absolutely sure you are not importing someone with dangerous and fanatical views, posing as a hapless refugee?’ It keeps happening – in the US, in Australia, and all through Europe where countries good-heartedly opened their gates and said ‘Welcome to all’. The letter writers are also asking ‘What is wrong with carrying through your pre-election promises? – it is rare and refreshing to see’. Others say he has done more in two weeks than our PM has done in a year!
It’s HOW Trump enacts his policies which make decent people everywhere cringe. He’s like a big boorish bulldozer – a polar opposite to the charming Obama who used politically correct phrases in a most natural and convincing way, but did nothing to satisfy all those who were seeing (just as the Brexiters did) the quality of their lives worsening while no-one at the top was listening to their unanimous voice about regaining control of their country and its core democratic non-sectarian values, and maybe getting their job back too.
The irony of the Trump case for ‘making America a safer place’ is that he seems to be all for every American citizen owning a gun, including the mentally unstable as you have pointed out Glenn. And so Trump will continue to shock and embarrass as he pushes through the mountain with his bulldozer. A little like the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, unpredictable and hard-line against drug-runners and corrupt police – but you can hardly blame many for watching his pro-active line with a sneaking regard. And thus it is with Trump – so far anyway….
So while many Australians can understand why your President Trump is reluctant to honour that deal made by the former President Obama, they’re just a tad uneasy at how he reportedly spoke to our PM (ie, at the boorish nature of that phone call).
A thoughtful reflection - comments?
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