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Building blocks for a compassionate society

Barry Jones

Published in Eureka Street, June 2007

As Prime Minister, John Howard perfected the idea that compassion is an Australian export, but not an import. We were prepared to fight for the Iraqis, whether they liked it or not, but we would not let Saddam's victims come here as refugees.

Given my notorious addiction to lists, I have tried to set out topics which should be on the ethical agenda in politics/ public life. I stopped counting at 42.

1. 'Terror'
2. Torture
3. Death Penalty
4. Weapons of mass destruction [e.g. cluster bombs]
5. Refugees/ asylum seekers
6. Institutionalised cruelty
7. 'Shooting the victim'
8. 'Otherness'/ 'the oppressed'.
9. Religious freedom/ tolerance
10. Monoculturism v. multiculturism
11. Censorship and freedom of expression
12. Hope v. Fear
13. Guns
14. Global warming
15. Water
16. Sustainability
17. 'Global poverty'
18. Debt forgiveness
19. Forestry
20. Strip mining the environment
21. Racism
22. Aborigines
23. 'Sorry'
24. 'Plausible deniability' in politics/ serial lying / moral erosion
25. The use of double standards
26. Needs based education - the problem of transfer payments
27. Defining 'values'/ 'Australian values'/ social inclusion
28. Decision making - faith based? or evidence based?
29. 'Certainty' v. 'Uncertainty'
30. Economic v. Non-economic factors
31. Double standards - Hicks, refugees, Santo Santoro
32. Drugs ? legal v. illegal
33. Gambling
34. Sexual exploitation/ pornography
35. Child labour
36. Women's rights/ affirmative action
37. Animal rights/ cruelty/ experimentation
38. Research in embryonic stem cells
39. HIV-AIDS
40. Abortion
41. Euthanasia
42. 'Same sex relationships'
43. 'Family values'

Tackling the problem of terrorism by the application of force is unlikely to succeed. Pouring blood on the Iraqi desert produced an upsurge of terrorism where none had been before: cruelty, genocide even, but not terrorism, let alone fundamentalist terrorism.

Our prevailing policy line in the West is that terrorism has no cause - it is a baffling phenomenon, beyond rational analysis, an epidemic, a manifestation of evil, not seen as a political reaction, to be resolved, or even understood, by rational processes.

The case of David Hicks raises disturbing examples of double standards. It is inconceivable that Hicks could have been held by, say, the French, or the Russians, under comparable conditions as at Guantánamo Bay, without expressions of outrage from John Howard, or even Philip Ruddock.

No American citizen could be detained at Guantánamo Bay because it would violate the US Bill of Rights - but Australian citizens were liable if its Government made no protest.

Before the trial began, Prime Minister Howard and the US Ambassador Robert McCallum both declared Hicks guilty of unspecified but serious offences. They wanted him to be convicted of something. A 'fix' based on a guilty plea followed by rapid repatriation, and release after the 2007 election might be a way to bury the controversy.

Torture is now routinely justified instead of being outlawed. The arguments 'We only torture in a good cause' and 'If they can do it, so can we…' should have been dismissed out of hand, but were not. We should have asked: 'How are torturers recruited? Self-selection? Going with the flow? Does the Eichmann defence of 'superior orders' apply?'

The rule of law, presumption of innocence, access to courts and legal representation can all be withdrawn at will. Violence and sexual humiliation of prisoners became routine. Moving prospective torturees to a jurisdiction beyond the reach of US courts is coyly described as 'rendition' or 'extraordinary rendition', meaning 'outsourced, privatised torture'.

As Prime Minister, John Howard perfected the idea that compassion is an Australian export, but not an import. We were prepared to fight for the Iraqis, whether they liked it or not, but we would not let Saddam's victims come here as refugees. Nor would we admit refugees from Aceh whose habitat had been swept into the ocean.

It is paradoxical that the Australian Government strongly opposes barriers in trade, and strongly supports high barriers for people.

It has been disturbing to see Kevin Andrews, our Minister for Immigration, a barrister and practising Christian, referring to the need to apply 'deterrence' against refugees. But the concept of deterrence belongs to the criminal law. Australia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention, which makes it clear that refugees are not 'illegals' for arriving without papers or authorisation. The Prime Minister has succeeded in persuading many Australians that refugees who arrive without papers or authorisation are guilty of breaking the law and should be imprisoned.

Our institutionalised sadism is designed to destroy human dignity. In our detention centres, there are no longer 'suicide attempts': they have been re-defined out of existence and are now called 'attention-seeking incidents' or 'blackmail'.

The Government promotes a very narrow ethical agenda: sex, family, education, but rejects a broad one: compassion for refugees, peace, sustainability, tolerance, saving the planet.

I welcome public discourse about 'values'. It is essential not to confuse 'values' with 'value', especially with a $ sign in front of it. Universities have become trading corporations. Subjects which try to explain the meaning of life are struggling to survive. The environment is seen as an economic resource, with forests seen as woodchips on stumps. Citizens, students, patients, passengers, audiences have all become customers - the economic factor subsumes every other characteristic.

The values that I would like to see promoted are

• Compassion
• Generosity
• Global perspective
• Openness
• Reconciliation
• Creativity
• Imagination
• Relieving gender, race and class conflicts
• Intellectual rigour
• Taking a longer term perspective
• Handling fear in a positive, constructive way
• Courage
• Independent judgment.

These are the building blocks for a just and compassionate society.