Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston |
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A chance for Australia to help the people of Japan?
A prominent Cairns businessman is spearheading a push to bring thousands of Japanese refugees left homeless by the earthquake and tsunami to the Far North to ease the pressure on the disaster-struck nation.
The unfolding disaster in Japan has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Cairns has long had a good relationship with Japan. Cairns has sister city relationships with Minami and Oyama. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese tourists visit every year with direct flights from Cairns to Japan daily. This would put new meaning into the Sister City program if we really treated our relationship as we would a family relationship.
Currently the Cairns tourist industry is in slump with the GFC, floods and cyclones, and has an oversupply of apartments and hotel rooms. Cairns already has a large Japanese population with hundreds of Japanese students studying English and many working for our tourist industry. Many of our shops have duel language signage.
With homes, hospitals, schools and major infrastructure destroyed in Japan, Cairns – and perhaps other Australian cities – could take in Japanese refugees on-short term visas. This would help take the pressure off over-crowded refugee centres in Japan.
I think this is a great idea. It would help revive the Far North as well as giving some relief to those who are suffering in Japan.
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plague year
Now that it's finally out, once and for all, that the reactors are clapped and there are big leaks of toxic matter into the atmosphere and sea as well on land, it was sad to catch a brief article today, to the effect that some hospitals etc were refusing people access, on the basis of their contamination.
Sad?
Senator McLucas keeps her promise
Senator McLucas has kept her promise to run this idea past the PM. She is now contacting the Japanese with this offer of help.
With the threat of nuclear catastrophe still hanging over the heads of the people of Japan, only the heartless among us would be against this offer of support.
imperfect thinking
I think Jay's post, "The real world", is worth a thought. One mitigating circumstance would be the sheer logistics involved: Even an advanced country like Japan is at the end of its tether. Were no Aceh injured treated in our hospitals?
Have any Japanese have come here yet seeking help and are we treating any Japanese injured at the moment, given the sophisticated nature of our health care system? Have we given aid to either country if asked for or not?
Did we not have a fairly significant response from the public to media appeals for help back in 2005?
As I said above, Aussies can be better at spontaneous giving than when they are given time to fret about these things. That seemed to happen a little with Christchurch, as well.
Yes, I agree with Jay's point, tho. There appear to be double standards at play all across the turbulent, fractious world right now and sadly many are or are going to be, grisly realities rather than things we see but imperfectly ahead, about as of now.
Well said John
John:
Well said John! I totally agree. Don't let the naysayers get to you mate!
I'm rooting for you.. :D
And the 9 million starving Afghans, Kathy?
The idea came from Abbott as a cynical load of old bollocks, the man does not want to even help the couple fo thousand refugees who ask for it.
But if we want to import thousands of Japanese to prop up our tourist industry how do you feel about the 9 million Afghans still starving after nearly 10 years of our "help"?
And the other 800 million starving, worldwide, Marilyn?
Helping the Afghans and the Japanese should not be mutually exclusive, Marilyn.
Taking in children and the elderly on a temporary basis, in order for the Japanese to get back on their feet again, is the right thing to do.
Importing Japanese to prop up the tourist industry is not what this is really about, and you are misrepresenting John's good intentions.
It's about compassion.
So, spare me the" what about the Afghans " rhetoric.
It should not be a case of helping one country and neglecting another.
Selectivity and compassion
The real question is whether we are selective in our efforts to help disadvantaged people elsewhere.
I agree with Marilyn as to her sense that we favour some before others, and that politics disrupts our view of an actual problem and its importance.
The Obama administration's response to calls for democracy in the Middle East has demonstrated, possibly, a real problem as to belief and selectivity and that's the real point Marilyn is trying to make - you help people in unexpected trouble because you know that's painful and you wouldn't like to be experiencing it yourself, regardless of whether you are Japanese, Muslim, male, female, left, right etc, so therefore you try to help the underdog wherever that underdog is, whoever/whatever he/she is.
I'm not hostile to either John Pratt's idea or Marilyn's analysis of it, within the context of human disaster and suffering and how it is approached they apply to two different things, one pragmatic, another a philosophical warning, if you like, concerning the extent to whether bandaid solutions work. In several cases across the world, involving warfare and natural disasters, both apply, one refers to an immediate response, the other to the need for a coordinated response to long term suffering as preventable in large measure, given the right approach beforehand that changes decision-making to the basis of need rather than politics and self interest.
Charity begins at home
Australian homeless: 0.44% of population
Japanese homeless (from Tsunami): 0.39% of population.
Cairns greatest number of Japanese per capita in Oz
This might explain why Cairns is willing to open its doors to Japanese refugees.
Ctrl Z
John, "Cairns is willing to open its doors to Japanese refugees". I always thought that when somebody opened their doors to someone in trouble it was from the goodness of their heart.
It appears that Cairns will do this as long as the Federal government pays for it.
If you are truly going to open your doors, then every household in Cairns should be able to house two Japanese, sound OK to you John?
With all good intentions - honest
I'm way ahead of you Alan. You see, iJustin has already volunteered to provide free room and board to a number of Japanese "refugees" - just like this poor lass, who has been left with practically nothing.
Unfortunately, when they found out I was a paid up member of the Society Of Dirty Old Men that was the end of me.
Sounds alright to me
Sounds alright to me, Alan, many people in Cairns are doing just that.
It's the southern rednecks that worry me.
Once a southerner always a southerner I suppose.
It's the cold that must make their hearts freeze.
Read your local papers lately?
See the wall to wall northern rednecks wanting to shoot Afghan refugees because they come by sea.
Save your bullshit for someone else.
This suggestion was by Abbott - the same lousy bastard who wanted people to give to the Liberal party instead of suffering Queenslanders.
Funnily enough most of us wanted to give to suffering Queenslanders, we bigots in the south.
Global village?
Isn't it strange, when someone offers to open their house to help others, hundreds of voices speak of all the reasons why they should not.
Or if you offer help to one group, some people call out loudly that if you help one person you ignore others so it's best to do nothing.
I know this could be a win win for both the people of Cairns and the people of Japan. So what! Isn't that the best type of transaction where everyone wins?
We live in a global village the travel time to Australia for those suffering in Japan is just a few hours.
People are freezing and starving, schools are closed because people are sleeping in them. Surely taking some of the pressure off wouldn't hurt anyone.
On the question of who pays, the Japanese government and the Australian government call it humanitarian aid. Or from donations given to tsunami relief.
While we argue people are dying.
I am not sure how people seriously argue that to offer shelter to anyone in desperate need is wrong.
For god's sake this is such tripe
We all feel for the Japanese but they live in the third richest economy in the world and have had nine days of hardship.
The Afghans live in the poorest country on earth, they die the youngest, they are mostly illiterate and we have been bombing their country for almost a decade, starving their children to death and leaving 9 million people hungry for 32 years.
Then we jail them, abuse them and shoot at them if they come here.
It's not a matter of doing nothing for the Japanese but your self-serving crap makes even me and Alan Curran agree about something.
Have no fear - if some of these people sailed to Australia without papers we would torture them on Christmas Island.
The disaster has happened because there has been no way to get food in, that is all.
It's not like the Japanese government or some foreign power is bombing them to bits and deliberately starving them like we have done in Iraq and Afghanistan for decades.
I have no problem with helping the Japanese but using them to prop up the tourism industry of Cairns is beyond repulsive.
How many Australians were allowed to Japan?
Honestly it is just Abbott's little thought bubble.
One law for the ....
You can understand Marilyn's cynicism, tho, can't you John?
Not really
Not really Paul, there are two problems here: thousands of Japanese without food and shelter, in a very cold climate and thousands of vacant hotel rooms and apartments in cities like Cairns. The solution would be to fly the elderly and children to a safe place while the strong rebuild.
Both the Australian and Japanese governments have the money to make it happen. Employing Australians and helping the Japanese who have a short term problem and the people would most likely be quite willing to return to Japan as soon as new homes are built.
A win win for both nations.
A great change to build our relationship with Japan.
No new Kosovars?
No, what I'm getting at is, the Sendei event is spectacular and in people's faces through saturation. Marilyn just wonders, I suppose, why we don't feel so sorry for others in also bad situations, when we (rightly) fell sorry for the Japanese of Sendai.
Out of sight, out of mind?
Cairns depends on Japanese tourism
Paul, unless you live in Cairns you probably don't understand how much this city depends on Japanese tourism for its work force.
To most people in Cairns the Japanese are family, just like the Kiwis. And yes the Kiwis would be most welcome too.
Talk about self serving
John that is truly sickening. You want Japanese to come and prop up our tourism industry?
HELP NOW!
Methinks this "offer" looks more like a business opportunity rather than Christian charity - besides, when Australians lose their homes from flood and fire do they go to Japan? No, they stay in the land they love and rebuild their communities.
At this point in time the poor little yella fellas need immediate HELP, I see little of that but heaps of chatter.
Where is the massive airlift: hercs full of food, blankets, medical supplies, tents etc. - whatever they need, they need it NOW!
Bluey, why is this not happening?
Refugee? People can't live in these conditions!
Marilyn,this is a definition of a refugee:
Japanese children and elderly people are dying from lack of shelter and food: 500,000 people are living in school halls. It will take months for the Japanese governments to build houses, schools and hospitals.
Surely we can open our hearts to these people.
No, you are dead wrong
Natural disasters have nothing to do with being a refugee.
You just made that up yesterday. We didn't invite the people of Aceh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other places after the tsunami, the people of China or Pakistan after massive earthquakes, we certainly did not invite the black people from Haiti.
You claim people can't live in those conditions for long but the Palestinians have lived in those conditions forced on them by Israel and the west since 1948, the Haitians for decades, the Afghans for over 30 years of western invasions, the Iraqis after two attacks and 12 years of sanctions managed.
Why only help the Japanese and make up a whole new refugee definition to do so?
We have even said we will not take in the Tuvuluans when their islands finally sink in our filth.
The Japanese have had one week of this hell but they also have the 3rd largest economy and a massive population to help each other out.
The Afghans are one of the poorest, they die the youngest, the median age is 18 and what do we do to them?
We jail them on Christmas Island for daring to escape 32 years of imposed hell which we have indulged in as well and if they protest we now resort to shooting and tear gas.
29 million Afghans live just like the few hundred thousand in Japan will have to for a few months and they have done it for 32 years.
Honestly, what drivel John.
Australia is a party to the Refugees Convention and generally speaking, has protection obligations to people who are refugees as defined in Article 1 of the Convention. A refugee is any person who:
Now my heart breaks for the Japanese and the horror of it all but they are not refugees.
Its all about compassion
Marilyn, I admire the way you are quick to defend refugees from war.
But death from hunger and from cold is still death. People fleeing from death are refugees in my book.
My heart goes out to all who suffer.
We live in one of the richest countries in the world.
We can afford to be generous.
Japan is one of our largest trading partners and has been hit by a triple whammy. If they fail to stop a meltdown millions could be at risk of radiation poisoning.
Shelter is more important in a country where temperatures drop below zero at night.
It is because Japan is a first world country there is less risk to us if we offer temporary accommodation to those in need. Most will willing go home when it is safe to do so.
I find it very difficult to understand anyone who would deny the elderly and children food and shelter, in a time of great need.
I guess living in Cairns with a large Japanese population and having travelled to Japan I believe we have a lot to learn from the Japanese.
Compare what happen to New Orleans and the aftermath to how well behaved the Japanese have been during this catastrophe.
My dream is to live in a world without borders.
We all people are valued and the rich lend a helping hand to all in need.
Its probably because I am an atheist and my belief is that we should treat all with love and kindness if we can, without prejudice.
Press F1 for Help
John, This has got to be the most ill thought out and selfish plan I have ever heard of, it has nothing to do with helping the Japanese but more about helping Cairns.
You say "Currently the Cairns tourist industry is in slump with the GFC, floods and cyclones, and has an oversupply of apartments and hotel rooms". Perhaps you could get the Cairns Council to print money (like in your other great plan) then you would not have to worry about the slump.
I was watching a doco about Haiti the other night and saw thousands of people that would love to spend some time in your empty hotels and apartments. If the good christians of Cairns would like to go down that track, I have a doctor friend living in Haiti who would get things started.
I presume colour would not be a problem in Cairns, plus the fact they will be from a third world country unlike the Japanese who are first world and family of yours.
Good heavens Alan we agree
How about that.
We denied the children and elderly food in Iraq for 12 years, we stole from them and never paid it back and then invaded the place.
We dropped bombs on Afghans and lock them up their and tear gas them.
Selfish is right. The suffering Japanese owe us nothing.
The real world
No offence, John, but why didn't we invite the Indonesians over after the 2004 Tsunami? 240,000 people died in that. We didn't have fancy 24 news coverage for that. A reporter shoving a mike into the face of a mother who has just lost a child. We sit on our couch, munching hips, can of beer in our hand.
Consider the tens of thousands dying from hunger, disease and war every day. Yes, there is an occasional documentary, on one of those obscure channels that no one watches.
Inviting a few hundred people over (at whose expense?) is not going to make any real difference to the world, expect as a political stunt. Even a few hundred refuges on boats don't change anything. In any event, those most badly affected at best barely make it into a refugee camp and have no money - let alone enough to buy a passage on a boat.
They're all just another 'broken ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' scheme.
What rubbish
These cowards won't help refugees from wars we started but want to help people in a country with the world's third biggest economy that is not at war.
Stop misusing the word "refugee", they are not refugees. They will get help and new homes.
Refugees get shot.
Koan
It's funny, when there is an unpredicted event aussies will rally spontaneously, as they did with the Kosovars, Aceh and after the bushfires and floods. It seems it's only when they have time to think that they clam up, as has happened with boat refugees.
I dare say the feature of Japan's response has related to organisational capacity, but on something of the current scale millions of people are involved. The first rush can only be toward life support; water, basic shelter, food and medicine.
But it worked a decade ago with the Kosovar refugees from the Balkans' last civil war that had several hundred come here. They fitted in so well it was a surprise that Philip Ruddock was so hard line on repatriating them after a year or so.
I don't think the many Japanese would find the chance of time down here while recovering and while Japan recovers unpalatable, they'd know us better as part of the same region, same as we know enough about them to take an educated guess that they would be a sure bet as guests for a while. But I think the Japanese, like us, are deeply attached to their country and would know there would be a time to go back, and celebrate that, too.
Words, mere words
John, I can hardly wait to learn of the exact wording of Mr Abbott's response.
That said, I think it is something well worth consideration - and action.
Abbott the good Samaritan?
Yes, Fiona, this would be a good chance for Mr Abbott to show his Christian principles. If he has any.
I won't hold my breath.
Japan much more than a trading partner.
There seems to be bipartisan support for this idea. It would be great to be able to make this offer to Japan in its time need.