Australia, refugees, and terrorism

Australia justifies its racist anti-refugee policies under the guise of "fighting terrorism". But there's a problem: ASIO, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, thinks there's no connection:

The head of Australia’s spy agency, Duncan Lewis, says people become terrorists because they adhere to a violent interpretation of Sunni Islam, not because they are refugees.

[...]

“We have had tens of thousands of refugees come to Australia over the last decade or so and a very few of them have become subjects of interest for Asio and have been involved in terrorist planning,” he said.

“I’m not denying that. I’ve not said that there are no terrorists who have not been refugees or who have not been the sons and daughters of refugees born in this country.

“But the context is very important. The reason they are terrorists is not because they are refugees but because of the violent, extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam that they have adopted.”

Lewis said sons and daughters of refugees were “in the group that have resorted to radicalisation but I think it is very wrong to say that it is because of their refugee status”.

“They are radicalised for different reasons,” he said.

(From this side of the Tasman, it appears that one of those reasons is Australia's religious intolerance and targeting of Muslims. When you can't get on peacefully with your life because the government considers all members of your religion to be suspected terrorists, it encourages extremist views and violent reactions. By creating and feeding an atmosphere of oppression the Australian government has effectively created its own domestic terrorism problem. The worry is that SIS will adopt the same intrusive methods in New Zealand, with the same outcome...)

This is not what the Australian right wants to hear, and so we have former PM Tony Abbott telling ASIO to "think again". Because clearly intelligence agencies are there not to tell the politicians about reality, but to confirm their prejudices...

An environmental vandal

Australia has been facing fires and floods from climate change. Meanwhile, its Prime Minister is bragging how how he has stopped government action to fight it:

To the dismay of the multi-billion-dollar clean-energy sector, and to the mortification of many Australians, Mr Abbott bragged that he had halted the spread of wind farms by slashing the amount of energy to be generated by renewable sources by 2020.

Explaining a compromise which he reached with opposition parties in the Senate last month to cut the target by 20 per cent, he told a right-wing radio host, Alan Jones: “What we did recently in the Senate was to reduce… the number of these things [wind farms] we are going to get in the future.”

He added: “I frankly would have liked to have reduced the number a lot more. But we got the best deal we could, and if we hadn’t had a deal, we would have been stuck with even more of these things… I’ve been up close to these wind farms, there’s no doubt that not only are they visually awful but they make a lot of noise.”

But then, what do we expect from a guy who thinks coal is "good for humanity"? He's simply an environmental vandal. If he were an ordinary citizen, he'd just be a moron, the sort of person you'd laugh at for his backward views. But when he's running a country, its downright dangerous.

Climate change: An alliance against saving the world

Last week saw both the US and China take strong steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions. So naturally, Australia's Tony Abbott is trying to organise other countries against it:

Tony Abbott is seeking a conservative alliance among "like-minded" countries, aiming to dismantle global moves to introduce carbon pricing, and undermine a push by US President Barack Obama to push the case for action through forums such as the G20.

Visiting Ottawa for a full day of talks with the conservative Canadian Prime Minister and close friend Stephen Harper, Mr Abbott flagged intentions to build a new centre-right alliance led by Canada, Britain and Australia along with India and New Zealand.

[...]

The combined front would attempt to counter recent moves by the Obama administration to lift the pace of climate change abatement via policies such as a carbon tax or state-based emissions trading. It is a calculated attempt to push back against what both leaders see as a left-liberal agenda in favour of higher taxes, unwise interventions to address global warming, and an unhealthy attitude of state intervention.

Yes, seriously: Abbott is trying to organise a global alliance to stop people from saving the world. That really does take the cake for regression.

Meanwhile, it is disturbing to see New Zealand included on Abbott's list of possible allies. Someone really needs to ask John Key where he stands on this, and force him to either publicly reject Abbott, or give up on his pretence to care about climate change.