"Children overboard": Howard's cowards bag public servants

by Peter Mac

Federal Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill, has rushed to blame his 
top public servants for the government's unscrupulous allegations about 
asylum-seeker children being thrown from ships attempting to enter 
Australian waters.

The Australian Navy's senior officer, Admiral Chris Barrie, who clung like 
a limpet to the "children overboard" story, appears to be of the same 
policitical persuasion as the Howard Government.

However, last week he was forced to retract his previous statement that 
children were indeed thrown overboard during the ship's interception by 
HMAS Adelaide. It now appears that the ship was actually sinking, 
and that the ship's passengers were actually preparing to abandon ship, 
while shouting desperately to the Navy ship for help.

The Government has claimed that they received a deceptively small amount of 
the full story at the time of the allegations. However, regardless of 
whether that is or is not technically correct, the reality is that last 
November the Government rejoiced at receiving photograph ie evidence that 
could be used to suggest that children of asylum seekers were thrown 
overboard, and had no hesitation in immediately using it to influence 
voters and win the federal election.

Even if, as Senator Hill continues to insist, the Government was actually 
misled by the photographs given to them, this would still not excuse the 
Government, which certainly sought no further evidence regarding the 
incident.

However, it is absolutely inconceivable that the Government did not know 
the truth. It has now been revealed that virtually everyone in the Defence 
Department knew what had really happened, and that a number of senior 
Defence Department personnel, alarmed at the Government's blatant 
misrepresentation of the facts, formally advised the Prime Minister's 
Department of the real state of affairs.

Senator Hill has now belatedly released a very limited statement of regret 
(not an apology) to the ship's passengers, to the effect that "if (the 
asylum seekers) were offended by the incorrect information that was 
forwarded to government, then I regret that".

Note that the statement still doesn't correct the impression of children 
being thrown overboard.

Many of those on board the striken vessel were from Iraq, and Esselle 
Harrom. a representative of the (Iraqi) Mandaean Association has described 
the Minister's statement as making the situation worse. Mr Harrom 
complained bitterly that "People were only holding those children up to say 
'the boat's sinking, at least save our children''.

Significantly, the Government issued a much less equivocal and patronising 
statement of regret to an Australian sailor who jumped in to rescue several 
people just before the ship sank.

The Defence forces are said to be seething at the lack of recognition for 
this courageous act, and at the lack of respect for the truth displayed by 
Admiral Barrie and the Federal Government).

Meanwhile the Government appears to have no intention of scrapping or even 
altering the callous, inhumane and hugely expensive mandatory detention 
policy for asylum seekers.

Last year, 1103 of the 8401 people held in Australia's detention centres 
were children.

They are particularly vulnerable to the terrible psychological effects of 
indefinite detention, and they are being offered almost no education 
opportunities by the Australian Government, in contravention of the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Australian Government has 
ratified, and which provides for the right of all children to primary and 
secondary education.

Younger children have very limited access to education; while secondary-age 
children and adults have no opportunity to attend regular schools and 
colleges.

The Australian Education Union has joined the call for closure of the 
detention centres and the release of detainees into the community, as in 
New Zealand.

They have also demanded that all asylum seeker children be immediately 
provided with educational opportunites of a standard equal to that provided 
for Australian children. As the Union's journal noted, "many (asylum 
seeker) children have been shipped to other countries so they can be 
prevented from accessing Australian law."