Q&A Wrap: Our right to a border policy and religious freedoms

Australia has every right to have a robust border policy that we shouldn’t have to defend to the world, says Grahame Morris.

Grahame Morris on Q&A. Picture: Twitter

Political relations expert and John Howard’s former chief of staff Grahame Morris says he is fed up with foreign activists “giving us curry” about the way Australia governs its borders.

Speaking on the ABC’s Q & A program, Mr Morris, the federal director of government relations firm Barton Deakin, lashed out at Kenneth Roth, the international director of Human Rights Watch, over the Syrian war and the need to care for large numbers of refugees fleeing the conflict.

“I’m getting sick of people like Ken from overseas giving us curry about what we should do about our refugees, migrants and about our borders. We have 190,000 people come here each year as migrants. There are hundreds of thousands of others who queue up, do the right thing, get processed, who wanted to come here,” he told the show, which discussed religious freedom, Facebook’s privacy scandal, the Syrian conflict and, among other topics, Australia’s offshore detention program.

“We’re getting lectures from people overseas saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to do more.’ Well, that some people are less, the people who queue and do the right thing are somehow or other less worthy than people who turn up elsewhere and come in through the back door.”

.@GrahameMorris2 doesn't like people from overseas giving us curry about our immigration processes. @KenRoth says people don't have options #QandA pic.twitter.com/fkrTxtmzPx

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 16, 2018

Mr Roth replied that if Australia was serious about stopping deaths at sea it would set up a processing centre in Indonesia.

“In terms of the last point, generosity, let me compare it with Canada,” he said. “We’re talking about 12,000. Justin Trudeau said we would tack 20,000 on our Syrian intake. It took three months. At the end of three months ... they increased it to 40,000.”

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said Australia is “well under way” to taking 12,000 Syrian refugees, and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to securing the borders and stopping people smugglers.

Should Australia be granting more refugees a safe haven than it currently is? @KenRoth & @missyhiggins respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/ENI56Gjpix

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 16, 2018

Labor’s Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said Australia can be more generous.

“We have probably the most significant number of displaced people around the world and I do agree with Ken, it needs to be non-discriminatory,” she said.

Singer-songwriter Missy Higgins said blaming people smugglers does not stop desperate people attempting to reach Australian shores.

“I think that a lot of the time so many of us are so removed from it and especially with this rhetoric that comes out of the government, calling these people criminals, calling them, even the word asylum seekers has a stigma now,” she said.

“They come to our shores or try to reach our shores. If they get anywhere close we lock them up in these detention centres that are like prisons and probably worse than prisons. Because these people are indefinitely kept in a place where they’re suffering.”

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

There were 16,000 submissions to the Religious Freedom Review headed by Philip Ruddock, one questioner asked the Q & A panel about how thatnumber proves religious freedoms are an extremely important issue to many people.

“Last year really showed up Christians were under pressure,” the man said. “I think we need laws to really come down on those people hard so we continue to live in a society that respectfully handles difference of opinion.”

Ms Rishworth said Australia has good laws around human rights.

“When it comes to rights — you’re talking about the right to express your religion — but there’s the right also to not be discriminated against. So no right is absolute,” she said.

.@KenRoth says citing religion as justification for mistreatment of people is bigotry. @SenatorFifield says we need to be careful #QandA pic.twitter.com/vLwM7j46Dh

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 16, 2018

Mr Fifield said the government needs to be “very careful” when legislating in this area, so as not to create a problem when trying to fix something else.

“You’ve got to be very careful in this area,” he said. “I always think the greatest protection for religious freedom is having a robust and pluralistic democracy where views can be debated and people feel the freedom to put a view but someone else has the freedom to challenge that view.”

Mr Morris said last year we had a plebiscite asking whether the gay community could marry.

“We did not have a vote that says everyone has to wake up in the morning, including footballers like Folau, and say, ‘It’s a good idea to be gay’,” he said.

“What sort of people should be exempt from that? You could understand the churches should be exempt. That should be a no-brainer.”

FACEBOOK

Mr Fifield said the government is awaiting the results of a formal inquiry by the Privacy Commissioner to determine whether Australian privacy law has been breached in the Facebook scandal.

What steps is your government taking to address shortcomings in privacy protection? @SenatorFifield & @KenRoth respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/s7wJYx1YZ6

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 16, 2018

“If there has, there are significant penalties,” he said.

“My view is absolutely if the laws aren’t adequate, if the penalties not severe enough, we should absolutely take further action.”

Mr Roth, meanwhile, said it is clear laws around privacy aren’t adequate.

“We know companies like Facebook take our data,” he said. “So we need laws that really protect our privacy.”

.@missyhiggins doesn't mind data used for advertising but not propaganda. @GrahameMorris2 says be aware of what you are sharing #QandA pic.twitter.com/ZpvP615RhR

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 16, 2018

The challenge, Ms Rishworth said, is to educate children from a young age to challenge information in the information age. “We’re in a new world now,” she said. “We need a critical citizen to be constantly thinking about it and need to start that at school and the early years as well.”