Ahhhh, yet another beautiful sunshiney day to watch our federal politicians on social media, battling one another for headlines during the 2016 election campaign. HASHTAG AUSVOTES! 
This week has been a total clusterfuck, if we’re honest. From Peter Dutton saying ‘illiterate’ refugees would both bludge on the dole AND steal your job, to Bill Shorten comforting people after being in car accidents, to Richard Di Natale forgetting to declare a house, or tell anyone he pays his au pairs minimum wage (less if you don’t count board and food).
It’s honestly been somewhat exhausting. But, let’s hug this out and hold one another up – because now PM Malcolm Turnbull has tried to deflect Dutton’s dicey comments with a spicy op-ed for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Our PM begins with talking about how proud he is of Australia’s multiculturalism:
“Barely a day goes past when I don’t celebrate that we are the most successful and harmonious multicultural nation in the world,” he begins.
Mmm yes, I see. Perhaps he’ll talk about some of the incredible migrants that reside here, maybe?
“But we cannot be under any illusions about what our multicultural success is built upon.”
Awww no, he’s gonna talk about the importance of ‘strong borders’, isn’t he. Oh goddamn.
He wants you to know that the Labor Party and the Greens now wanna FUCK THAT ALL UP by trying to create more open borders for people fleeing countries that we are proudly taking part in vigorously destroying.
“Tragically, in our own country, we only have to look to the previous Labor government when a collapse of border security emboldened 50,000 individuals to entrust their lives to people smugglers.Our opponents in the Labor Party and the Greens who promote more open borders cannot evade the awful consequences of the last time they tried this experiment.More than 1200 people drowned at sea. And they are only the ones we know about.When I was opposition leader I begged Kevin Rudd not to abandon the Howard government’s border protection policy. But that’s exactly what he did.Kevin Rudd’s party did not have a commitment to strong borders any more than Bill Shorten’s party does today.This fundamental problem is on display as a divided Labor Party is once again drawn towards a partnership with the Greens.”
The leader of our country, who is currently in support of keeping open detention centres that contain people so distressed and desperate that they are violently committing suicide, goes on to say this:
“There is nothing humane about gestures that lead to young women, men and their children being placed in detention.”
Hokay. Nothin’ humane about people setting themselves on fire or being denied abortions either dude, but it’s happening.
He concludes by digging a deeper hole explaining that his matey Dutton wasn’t being a giant racist by calling refugees ‘illiterate’, he’s ‘factually correct’:
“The observation by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, that many refugees lack English skills and some lack literacy even in their own language is no more than a statement of fact.”
Yeah… ~84% of Syrians above the age of 15 are literate, and anyone who says ‘not speaking English’ equates to ‘illiterate’ may as well attach giant neon flashing sign that says ‘I’M TOO PRIVILEGED’ to their head.
According to our PM, “the reason Australians welcome high levels of immigration is that we have confidence that our government is thoroughly in control of our immigration”.
Turnbull, mate: from the amount of people protesting for the release of the refugees in detention, it seems as though many Aussies want to welcome more refugees because a large percentage of us value empathy and human compassion over heavy-handed border policies.
To find out where you sit on the political spectrum in Australia, check the Vote Compass: votecompass.abc.net.au/
Afterwards, ENROL TO VOTE, YO! You gotta before May 23. We promise you, it takes only a few minutes: aec.gov.au/enrol/
Source: SMH.
Photo: Stefan Postles / Getty.
