Beefs at week's end.

What a week for outrage (mine)!

This is the lead story today - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/03/3234321.htm. We are saying it's okay to send unaccompanied kids to Malaysia. I cannot imagine how additionally terrifying that experience would be for a child, following the previous terrifying experience of coming to Australian by boat illegally, following the unknown previous terrifying experience they may have had in their home country.

Whatever one's political persuasion may be on this issue - this is one solution that seems unlikely to really work. Although, if the main objective is to simply lessen the numbers of asylum seekers being processed in Australia, perhaps there will be an improved outcome. What I don't understand, is why this is the objective.

The Minister for Immigration has shaped the argument today to sound as though sending children back will enhance their safety in the long term, as it will mean they are less likely to get on boats. How much self-determination can an unaccompanied child exercise during an extended period of illegal transit where he/she has been given a vague instruction and plan and knows nothing else?

So, assuming the latest proposal gets off the ground, how will it look in the longer term? It is probable that Australia will largely fund all transit back to Malaysia and corresponding processing operations on the ground. In the meantime, Australia will be accepting an agreed number of recognised refugees from Malaysia for resettlement. And eventually, some of these will probably be the people we accommodated back to Malaysia and processed there. It's an expensive cycle that really changes very little in the longer term. I suppose all that matters is that the domestic audience buys it. Less people in detention centres here, less illegal boat arrivals - mission accomplished. In the meantime however, the reality is the financial costs to Australia will be significant and ongoing, a few more people will be subjected to additional trauma, unknown indefinite wait periods, depression and fear, and we will not have really created a national approach that recognises our international obligations and creates a sustainable framework to manage people movements in the long term.

At least the cows are safe.