Australia has blood on its hands (Photo: Wayne Jansson).
I used to be proud of being born and raised in Balmain, the spiritual home of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The area has produced and attracted some of the greatest names in Australian history, people of politics like Sir Henry Parkes, Tom Uren, Neville Wran and Herbert Vere ‘H.V.’ Evatt (aka Doc Evatt), and sporting heroes like Dawn Fraser and Wayne Pearce.
Pearce went to the same primary school as me but was a few years older. He played rugby league for Balmain Police Boys as a child. By the time he was about 12 or 13 years old, no-one who knew him had any doubt he would one day captain Balmain and play for Australia.
Pearce was never a naturally talented footballer, but even as a child he had immense drive and displayed a sense of fair play rarely seen on a rugby league field at the time. What he lacked in natural ability he made up for with a level of fitness dwarfing all players before him. Through sheer determination to succeed and onfield decency, he changed the game of rugby league and dragged it into the professional era. Pearce’s football career typified the suburb and the great people it collected and produced.
The Balmain I was born into was proudly working class, fiercely union and loyally ALP. It was rough, but people looked out for each other. The political heritage of the area meant something to everybody.
I grew up watching the area change as property values increased and the working class moved away. The Unity Hall Hotel slowly became more famous for drunken brawls than for being the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party.
The ALP didn’t lose its way because Balmain changed – but it is symbolic of what the once proud party has now lost.
Labor politicians and commentators can ramble all day about party reform, but it means nothing unless the party learns again how to fight for a decent Australia and keep fighting until it wins.
The single biggest issue of decency facing Australia is how we treat asylum seekers. Since Tampa and children overboard, apart from a short period under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the ALP has vacated the battlefield, and Australia has become cruel and indifferent to the suffering of refugees.
Standing up for the weakest is, in my book, a core ALP value. The party I grew up surrounded by would never have given up the battle to see people treated humanely and with dignity.
On Wednesday night a young Tamil refugee self-immolated after being informed by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection he was to be forcibly returned to Sri Lanka. Faced with torture in his home country his choice was death. He is in a critical condition in hospital and unlikely to survive.
The scene of this tragic event caused by our barbaric refugee policies, was Balmain.
Australian Labor Party: where the bloody hell are you?
Well said Wayne. A lot has been lost in our political blood spill.
Thanks for your perspective. :)
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So difficult to even find any "news" about this significant event.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/tamil-asylum-seeker-critical-after-setting-himself-on-fire …..10/4/14
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-11/tamil-asylum-seeker-self-harms-in-sydney/5383318 ….. 11/4/14
WTF is wrong with Australia ?
A good piece Wayne … wish it were a good peace!
Actually he was informed by the leftist stacked “Refugee Review Tribunal”.
Wrong
“The Tamil asylum seeker, who had been living in Australia for at least 18 months, was this week told by the department that his application for a permanent protection visa had been denied and he would have to return to Sri Lanka”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tamil-asylum-seeker-fighting-for-his-life-20140410-zqt6q.html#ixzz2yihC8QIX
Once the working class party, the ALP is no more. It’s filled with wealthy elitist; Liberal look a likes. Corruption reigns in Australian politics and only true blue average Aussies can fix it.
I too was born in Balmain, 78 years ago, and grew up living and breathing Labor. That was until 1991 when I realised that any semblance of ALP democracy was dead having been killed off by the self serving corruption of the controlling right faction.
Another famous Balmain born identity, former NSW Premier Neville Wran, said “Balmain Boys don’t cry”. The present situation of this once great humanitarian party makes it extremely difficult for this “Balmain Boy” not to start blubbering.
UPDATE:
The refugee who self-immolated is now showing signs of recovery – http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/14/tamil-self-immolator-shows-recovery-signs
@bondi_izzy u may like to read this one also http://t.co/osnpCGruPX #auspol #alp #refugees
“@Jansant:…http://t.co/54V1vqEC6E #auspol #alp #refugees” Wayne it’s a great piece. You show that the Balmain boy spirit burns still.
We were already missing Nifty and people like him http://t.co/osnpCGruPX #Wran #NevilleWran #nswpol #auspol #politics #Sydney #alp #nswpol
Its true believers like #Wran that #Labor now lacks #RIPnifty http://t.co/osnpCGruPX #NevilleWran #NSWpol #auspol #ALP
@JulieManfredi http://t.co/osnpCGruPX
@marqoftheshire Shorten is not real Labor, he’s Liberal lite #auspol btw did u read my last nofibs piece? http://t.co/osnpCGruPX @AlboMP
@SuDharmapala http://t.co/osnpCGruPX
#MayDay – A good time to think about what the political arm of the movement has lost http://t.co/osnpCGruPX via @NoFibs Unions r soul of ALP
The killing of fair play: @Jansant comments on what the ALP has lost http://t.co/utwoUMTWna via @NoFibs
Love your writing style & passion Wayne. Keep up the good fight. We need a keep the bastards honest approach! It is truly shocking what is going on in Australian Politics at the moment.