Well justified outrage this week after a 4 Corners report into the treatment of Australian cattle exported to Indonesia. Putting aside the irony that these cattle are heading for the cooking pot regardless, as a so-called 'civilised' nation we should demand better treatment, or refuse to do business with the Indonesians.
It's nice to see pretty much the whole country up in arms about this - no-one likes cruelty to animals - but there is a bitter irony wonderfully expressed by Tandberg in one of his cartoons during the week.
Sad. Quite happy, the rank and file, to either refuse entry to asylum seekers, lock them up, or to ship them off elsewhere, while they wring their hands over livestock exported for slaughter elsewhere. I don't mean to belittle the cause of animal rights; it just seems a tad perverse when human rights - actual people without home and generally fleeing a miserable existence - get very short thrift.
Interesting to see the Liberal immigration minister, Scott Morrison, come late to the party. Pity he has the credibilty of a snake oil salesman, and the morality. He's the sort of low-life opportunist typical of the Libs today. It's not about the refugees - he's already proved he cares nothing for them. They're a political football that he, and too many of his colleagues, like to kick around. They're not people, they're headlines. We have tabloid journalism; we also have tabloid politics.
