Post by Willow on Jul 26, 2013 13:41:15 GMT 9.5
personally, I'm not happy with what either party is doing in their treatment of asylum seekers but if we have to turn them away then lets get some-one efficient managing the process
BY:GREG SHERIDAN, FOREIGN EDITOR From: The Australian July 26, 2013 12:00AM 53 comments
TONY Abbott has crafted a credible plan to approach what he rightly regards as the national emergency of illegal arrivals by boat to Australia.
The death by drowning of more than 1100 people since Labor changed border protection policy in 2008 surely qualifies the phenomenon as a national emergency. But so, too, does the illegal arrival in Australia of nearly 50,000 people by boat in that time, and the effective collapse of Australian control over its borders.
Abbott's response has two parts - process and substance. He is right to focus heavily on process.
Both the Rudd and Gillard governments have been astonishingly delinquent on process, especially regarding border control.
In process terms, Abbott's plan, crafted with his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, relies on two insights. The first is that in complex operations, especially if they involve a military component, your best bet of success is to ask a soldier to do it.
So Abbott plans to put a three-star general in charge of Operation Sovereign Borders.
Australian soldiers are focused on outcomes and accomplishing difficult missions.
The Rudd government's PNG Solution is already starting to unravel because of the failures in implementation that the government has overseen over the past five years.
Manus Island has been back as official policy for two years, yet we still do not have a permanent, substantial facility there. A serious soldier, with authority for an overall program and access to the prime minister, would never have let a situation drift so long.
The second insight is that a single operation with a single chain of command and a single person in charge is most likely to achieve a coherent outcome.
This may be Management 101, but neither the Rudd nor Gillard government has been very good at Management 101.
The third element of Abbott's announcement is simply to underline how seriously an Abbott government will approach this issue. No one should be in any doubt. Stopping the boats will be an over-riding priority. There will be no inertia or timidity about the approach. Indeed, it is likely that the rush to get something done would be the chief danger.
The opposition's comprehensive structure, integrating 15 departments or agencies under a single commander, reporting directly to a cabinet minister in a process overseen by cabinet's National Security Committee, makes this less likely.
It gives the Coalition's policies the greatest chance of working.
Abbott and Morrison have also signalled that they will be dynamic in government, willing to try new things, to adjust the detail of their approach as necessary, and never accepting the arrival of illegal boats as a normal condition of Australian life.
It may or may not work, but it's a useful step forward.
BY:GREG SHERIDAN, FOREIGN EDITOR From: The Australian July 26, 2013 12:00AM 53 comments
TONY Abbott has crafted a credible plan to approach what he rightly regards as the national emergency of illegal arrivals by boat to Australia.
The death by drowning of more than 1100 people since Labor changed border protection policy in 2008 surely qualifies the phenomenon as a national emergency. But so, too, does the illegal arrival in Australia of nearly 50,000 people by boat in that time, and the effective collapse of Australian control over its borders.
Abbott's response has two parts - process and substance. He is right to focus heavily on process.
Both the Rudd and Gillard governments have been astonishingly delinquent on process, especially regarding border control.
In process terms, Abbott's plan, crafted with his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, relies on two insights. The first is that in complex operations, especially if they involve a military component, your best bet of success is to ask a soldier to do it.
So Abbott plans to put a three-star general in charge of Operation Sovereign Borders.
Australian soldiers are focused on outcomes and accomplishing difficult missions.
The Rudd government's PNG Solution is already starting to unravel because of the failures in implementation that the government has overseen over the past five years.
Manus Island has been back as official policy for two years, yet we still do not have a permanent, substantial facility there. A serious soldier, with authority for an overall program and access to the prime minister, would never have let a situation drift so long.
The second insight is that a single operation with a single chain of command and a single person in charge is most likely to achieve a coherent outcome.
This may be Management 101, but neither the Rudd nor Gillard government has been very good at Management 101.
The third element of Abbott's announcement is simply to underline how seriously an Abbott government will approach this issue. No one should be in any doubt. Stopping the boats will be an over-riding priority. There will be no inertia or timidity about the approach. Indeed, it is likely that the rush to get something done would be the chief danger.
The opposition's comprehensive structure, integrating 15 departments or agencies under a single commander, reporting directly to a cabinet minister in a process overseen by cabinet's National Security Committee, makes this less likely.
It gives the Coalition's policies the greatest chance of working.
Abbott and Morrison have also signalled that they will be dynamic in government, willing to try new things, to adjust the detail of their approach as necessary, and never accepting the arrival of illegal boats as a normal condition of Australian life.
It may or may not work, but it's a useful step forward.