Letter to Julia Gillard

Dear Julia Gillard,

Congratulations on being elected Prime Minister of Australia. I am very excited for you, and look forward to seeing how you make the most of this most wonderful opportunity that the Labor party has granted you.

In your first speech to parliament in 1998 you said, “So-called `wedge politics' sells the big lie that the answer to insecurity is to tread on the weakest amongst us. This shabby opportunism has hurt many and helped none. For far too long public debate in Australia has failed to nourish or inspire us.”

I encourage you to heed these words when you formulate Labor’s policy towards asylum seekers before the coming election. The Labor party shamefully decided to suspend asylum applications from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in April, despite evidence that these are still very safe countries for Hazara afghans and Sri Lankan Tamils, who constitute the majority of the people who seek asylum in this great country. This policy will not reduce the number of boats in the long run. Furthermore, turning away people in their hour of need should not be one of the goals of our society.

If we, with our wealth and belief in a fair go, cannot treat with respect, dignity, and compassion the small number who seek asylum here each year then it is a depressingly sad statement about our ability to deal with major global challenges confronting us.

In your maiden speech you also made a reference to Pauline Hanson saying “What the last red-headed woman who made a first speech in this place will never understand is that the vast majority of migrants come here determined to make a better life for themselves and their kids, and they are prepared to work unbelievably hard to achieve that dream.”

I sincerely hope that you will be the kind of Prime Minister that will allow all asylum seekers who arrive on our shores to fulfil their dreams of being accepted in a society that is moral, young and free.

Yours Sincerely

Ittay Flescher