27.
This approach would involve the risk of much talk,
many meetings but little progress or real action. It could
produce more camels when we want fast, staying thoroughbreds.
However, I doubt that few more governments will ratify
Recent harsh experience will
the present Convention and Protocol.
mitigate against acceptance of the total, broad-ranging obligations
of the existing instruments.
I put this forward as a personal suggestion for
consideration by experts and all those who are interested in
refugees and their protection.
I would welcome any views.
Not long ago, I would have been thought eccentric,
as a Minister for Immigration, to have talked at some length about
the Convention and Protocol and about refugee situations in Asia.
It is a mark of a changing world that refugee issues
and policy concerning boat people are now topics of everyday
conversation in Australia.
We cannot escape the reality of our geography in the
world of instant communication and rapid transport.
The boat people require some rapid rethinking of our
I do not wish to raise the old "populate or
cosy isolationism.
perish" issues but there are several "if onlys" that come to mind.
"If only people did not come". "If only we had a larger population".
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