{"id":2444,"date":"2013-02-28T18:18:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T08:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wildcard.gnubies.com\/?p=2444"},"modified":"2017-12-09T18:53:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T08:53:37","slug":"coalition-dog-whistles-as-the-election-countdown-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=2444","title":{"rendered":"Coalition dog-whistles as the election countdown continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Liberal-National coalition which forms the opposition in Australia has just confirmed that it is the party of xenophobes by proposing that whenever asylum-seekers are allowed to move into a neighbourhood on bridging visas, the people staying there and the police should be notified.<\/p>\n

This is dog-whistle politics of the lowest kind, but the Coalition will do anything to get votes. A federal election is scheduled for September 14.<\/p>\n

Should this extend to the asylum-seekers who are granted permanent residence?<\/strong><\/a> Or does the granting of such status suddenly make the asylum-seeker a person of good character?
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\nThe irony of this proposal is that Scott Morrison, the immigration spokesman for the Coalition, claims to be a practising Christian! Yeah, sure.<\/p>\n

There is a streak of racism which is part of the body politic in Australia and that is very much present within the Coalition.<\/p>\n

In the past, John Howard has displayed a kind of closet racism in his bid to stay in power. The 2001 election was shamelessly built on the arrival of asylum-seekers in a ship called the Tampa. Howard and his ministers lied their way to electoral victory on the backs of these poor souls.<\/p>\n

And Howard continued in this vein right to the end of his political career. Ironically, he was voted out by immigrants who had grown to a pretty large number is his seat of Bennelong. Sweet revenge, indeed.<\/p>\n

But the dog-whistle is still present in Coalition ranks. And it is blown whenever needed. As it has been today.
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