Saturday, December 17, 2005

The face of Australian Civilisation?

Today's model is Mr Tastan:



After all, a measure of civilisation is how a society treats its most wretched. Here's how we treat ours:

Mr Tastan, 43, who has paranoid schizophrenia, has lived on the streets of the Turkish capital since the Australian Government wiped its hands of him almost three years ago. Despite living in Australia for almost 30 years, Mr Tastan was deported in January 2003 on character grounds...

Character grounds?

He is certifiably ill. In need of treatment.

What sort of primeval judgement says someone with such a well-established and overt psychiatric condition is "a bad character"? This is not some debate about fatigue, or psychiatric overlay, or other half-baked excuses for violent and criminal behaviour (and we haven't heard many of those lately, have we?).

This man needed treatment. He is a genuine victim. And instead we dumped him, after 30 years of the most shithouse life the lucky country can offer, in a country he was brought out from as a child.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

These stories of Aussies, and they are Aussies if they have lived here for long periods since childhood, make me want to puke.

I can't believe that 'the walking corpse' was once a leading light of the small-l Liberals! I am religious but if there is a hell, this is one piece of shite who deserves a front-row bed of nails.

On a side note: I have some English friends who lived here for many years and have now applied for permanent residency or something like that (sorry but I can't be more precise on this). Before it can be granted they have to leave the country for at least 24 hours and visit an Australian Embassy in a foreign country to lodge the paperwork. What a load of bullshit.

Unknown said...

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Armagnac Esq said...

We pretend to make such a deal about citizenship, but then if a citizen has a lebanese background they're still a Leb 3 generations later. And if they're picked up by the yanks then we don't exercise our rights and obligations of sovereignty over them. A crock.

A key difference between us and the UK I noted is that if you are living long term and legally in the UK you can vote, I believe, whereas if you live in Australia for decades, pay tax, and contribute to the community, but don't take out formal citizenship then you are excised from our 'democracy'.

Anonymous said...

the woman who decided she would like to have sex with my husband, and, when husband had come to his senses and told her to f### off, continued to stalk him via work email (Melbourne University), in the full knowledge that he had two young children... is on some kind of working visa from NZ. Surely "character grounds" should allow immigration to boot this skanky ho out of the country? Won't be holding my breath, of course - this kind of behaviour is par for the course in the liberal government, anyway!