Morrison's inept pandemic response has cost lives and livelihoods

 Morrison's inept pandemic response has cost lives and livelihoods

By Ranting Panda, 28 June 2021

Australia has been very fortunate in the limited impact that COVID-19 has had on it compared to many other countries. Since the first Australian case was reported in 2020, there have been 910 deaths to date (Department of Health, 2021c). While this is 910 deaths too many, it is relatively few deaths compared to many other countries, including Italy, India, Indonesia, and the United States.

Much of Australia's success in limiting the impact of COVID, has not been from its federal government, but because of the swift and decisive action taken by its state governments. In fact, the federal government was directly responsible for the spread of the virus in Australia, as well as for most of the deaths. There are five key areas that the incompetence and inaction of Australia's federal government worsened the situation:

• Ruby Princess cruise ship
• Aged Care
• Quarantine
• Contact tracing
• Vaccine roll-out.

Ruby Princess cruise ship

On 8 March 2020, the Ruby Princess cruise ship departed Circular Quay, Sydney, for an 11-day cruise to New Zealand and return. The passengers were not notified that there had been 158 cases of people from the previous voyage with coronavirus-like symptoms (Mao 2020).

The ship returned to Sydney on 19 March 2020. The federal government controls international borders and had deemed the voyage to be a 'low-risk' because its route had only taken it to New Zealand (Mao 2020). Following the federal government's guidelines for international passengers deemed low-risk, New South Wales Health officials allowed the passengers to disembark without testing. Even though these were returning international travellers, neither the federal government or the New South Wales government bothered to quarantine the passengers or keep track of where the passengers went. 

One day later, three of the passengers were diagnosed with COVID-19. Within five days, more than 133 of the passengers were found with COVID, many of whom had travelled interstate and mingled with the general community. 

The federal government could have prevented the ship from docking. Prior to the Ruby Princess, the Morrison government had banned international cruise ships from docking in Australia. However, it exempted four ships from this ban; the Ruby Princess was one of them (Mao 2020). 

The Commonwealth Department of Health required the passengers to self-isolate for 14 days after arrival in Sydney, and had published a fact-sheet explaining how to do this. However, Australian Border Force incorrectly advised passengers that the 14 days commenced from the date they departed Sydney, which was 11 days earlier than it should have started. This meant that passengers thought they only had to self-isolate for three days after arrival in Sydney (Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, 2020, item 2.16). 

In all, more than 700 passengers from the Ruby Princess tested positive for COVID, infecting thousands across Australia because of the federal government allowing it to dock, failing to quarantine passengers, and allowing passengers to travel unmonitored throughout the country. This monumental failure by the Morrison government could be considered ground-zero for the unchecked spread of COVID-19 throughout the nation.

Aged Care

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety published its final report in March 2021. It noted that 'Access to aged care is controlled by the Commonwealth Government' (Vol 2, p 191). 'Funding for aged care is insufficient, insecure and subject to the fiscal priorities and wide-ranging responsibilities of the Australian Government. This affects access to, and the quality and safety of, care' (Vol 2, p 188). Since 2015-16, Australian government expenditure on aged care for people aged over 70, has decreased as a percentage of GDP per capita (Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2021, Vol 2, p 191). The Royal Commission found that since the mid-1980s, the decline in spending by the Commonwealth Government is even more noticeable for people aged over 80 (Vol 2, p 191).  

Morrison's failure to address shortfalls in Commonwealth-funded aged care facilities resulted in 685 deaths across Australia. Of these, 655 were in Victoria, 28 in New South Wales, one in Queensland, and one in Tasmania (Department of Health, 2021b). While some commentators tried to blame state premiers for the deaths in their state, specifically Premier Dan Andrews in Victoria, these facilities were the responsibility of the Commonwealth government, with the state governments having no control over them. 

On 1 October 2020, the Royal Commission published an interim report that made several recommendations regarding addressing COVID-19 in aged care facilities. The Commonwealth government implemented all recommendations. Recommendation 4 of this report recommended that the 'Australian Government should establish a national aged care plan for COVID-19 through the National Cabinet in consultation with the aged care sector' (Vol 5, p 172). It is almost inconceivable that the Australian government failed to do this when the pandemic commenced more than six months earlier, particularly considering it was already known that the elderly were most susceptible. As dozens and dozens of people died in aged care, the federal government still failed to establish a plan for addressing COVID-19 in aged care facilities until a Royal Commission recommended it.

The Australian government's failure to act on aged care cost the lives of 685 elderly people. 

Quarantine

Section 51 of the Australian Constitution gives the federal government its legislative powers. This is where the Commonwealth government gets its power to control international migration. This same section also gives the Commonwealth government responsibility for quarantine. It makes sense that if the Commonwealth government is bringing people into the country, then the Commonwealth government should be responsible for quarantining them. But not the Morrison government. While the federal government was happy to continue bringing people into the country from overseas, it abdicated its responsibility for quarantine. Mind you, it was more than happy to detain asylum seekers and refugees in remote detention facilities for years at a time, even though they had not committed any crimes. But I digress. Instead, the Commonwealth government placed the burden of quarantine on the state governments, who were not prepared for this. Morrison washed his hands of quarantine, even as the states requested he help to create dedicated quarantine facilities. The state governments had to act immediately to help process the numbers of international travellers that the federal government was bringing into the country. The state governments did this by quickly repurposing hotels into quarantine centres. 

Hotels are not suitable for quarantine for several reasons, not least of which is they have central air-conditioning which facilitates the spread of airborne viruses. In Victoria, this was brought to prominence when its hotel quarantine program failed spectacularly, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives and a State of Disaster being declared, plunging Victoria into a prolonged lockdown. 

On 13 March 2020, the Commonwealth government established a National Cabinet to ensure a consistent approach to addressing COVID-19 throughout Australia. The National Cabinet acknowledged that much of the spread of COVID was due to international arrivals. On 27 March 2020, the National Cabinet implemented a 14-day mandatory quarantine period for international arrivals, without establishing quarantine facilities. It left this to the state governments, who then scrambled to establish hotel quarantine programs. Based on this, Victoria's Hotel Quarantine Program was established over one weekend in March 2020. The program was implemented within 36 hours of it being conceived, which placed considerable strain on Victoria's health resources, exacerbated by there being no warning of its implementation and no blueprint for its operation (Victorian Government, 2020, p 18). 

A decision was made to use private security to guard the hotels, although it wasn't clear who made the decision. It was not one made by any Victorian minister. Victoria Police admitted that their preference was for private security to provide the first tier of security arrangements, with Police to be used as a back-up (Victoria Government, 2020, pp 20-21). Whoever made the decision, didn't follow appropriate procurement guidelines and awarded the contract to a company who had not been awarded the State Purchase Contract for security. Additionally, that company then sub-contracted to other security service providers. There was no risk assessment in awarding the contract and the scope of the contract was ill-defined. An Inquiry into Victoria's tragic Hotel Quarantine Program, found that the security guards were not the appropriate mechanism for protecting the hotels and monitoring persons in quarantine, because private security firms tend to have a highly-casualised workforce. The Inquiry found that engaging an organisation with a more structured, fully salaried workforce would have been more effective, such as Victoria Police (Victorian Government, 2020, p 24).

The Inquiry further observed, 'Both the State and Commonwealth governments were aware, prior to 2020, of the possibility of a pandemic and its potentially devastating consequences. However, none of the existing Commonwealth or State pandemic plans, contained plans for mandatory, mass quarantine. Indeed, the concept of hotel quarantine was considered problematic and, thus, no plans for mandatory quarantine existed in the Commonwealth's overarching plans for dealing with pandemic influenza. Prior pandemic planning was directed at minimising transmission (for example, via voluntary isolation or quarantine at home) and not an elimination strategy' (Victorian Government, 2020, p 15). 

The Quarantine Hotel Programme in each state was necessary because of the volume of international arrivals the federal government allowed into Australia, and who then spread throughout the country. 

It's not like the Commonwealth government didn't have time to prepare for a pandemic. There was, after all, one in 2003, when the bird flu (H5N1) spread throughout much of Asia, and again in 2009, with swine flu (H1N1). In 2011, a review was conducted of the federal government's response to the swine flu pandemic. The 2011 Review of Australia’s Health Sector Response to the (H1N1) Pandemic 2009 included recommendations for national quarantine facilities. Specifically, one of the recommendations stated, 'The roles and responsibilities of all governments for the management of people in quarantine, both at home and in other accommodation, during a pandemic should be clarified. A set of nationally consistent principles could form the basis for jurisdictions to develop operating guidelines, including plans for accommodating potentially infected people in future pandemics and better systems to support people in quarantine' (Victorian Government, 2021, pp 87, 91). Ten years on and this recommendation has not been acted on by the federal government. 

The Victorian government did bungle the hotel quarantine in mid-2020 through engaging private security firms and not managing the containment of those quarantined. However, hotel quarantine was never going to be suitable. This had been identified ten years earlier in the 2011 H1N1 review in which a national response was recommended. Yet, the Commonwealth Pandemic Plan still fails to address mandatory or mass quarantine as happened during COVID (Victorian Government, 2020, pp 88-89). 

Several states have been crying out for dedicated quarantine centres to be established. Even after the hotel quarantine debacle last year that cost lives, Prime Minister Morrison has been arguing over the proposal by the Victorian government for a dedicated quarantine facility to be established near Avalon Airport. Morrison is adamant that the dedicated facility supplements hotel quarantine, rather than replaces it (Crowe, 2021). Morrison has also played politics with a similar suggestion by the Queensland government who had proposed a 1000-bed camp at Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba. More than 12-months after the hotel quarantine programs were established by state governments at the behest of the federal government, Morrison is still arguing about dedicated facilities, criticising solutions proposed by state governments (Chen, 2021).

Contact tracing

On 26 April 2020, the federal government's COVIDSafe application was released. This was a mobile phone app that would allegedly help identify people exposed to COVID-19. Prime Minister Morrison proudly touted the application as Australia's way out of lockdowns. 

A Senate Select Committee has been convened to look into all aspects of the government's pandemic response. Their final report is due for release by 30 June 2022. The Interim Report released in December 2020 has been scathing. The Committee found that the COVIDSafe app relied on using Bluetooth technology in a way that it was never designed to be used, namely to connect untrusted devices to each other (Parliament of Australia, 2020).

The app cost more than $5 million and was promoted by a $64 million marketing campaign. Yet six months after its release, it had detected a whopping 17 potential exposures to the virus. This despite there being around 30,000 cases in that time (Department of Health, 2021a).  

Vaccine roll-out

The federal government is responsible for Australia's vaccination program. However, it has bungled this with an incredibly slow roll-out, as well as issuing contradictory messages around the efficacy of AstraZenica and who is eligible for it. The federal government played politics with the vaccination program by by-passing the state governments and dealing directly with private medical clinics and GPs (Murphy, 2021). This so that the federal government could deal with 'friendly' clinics, rather than 'nit-picking' state governments. Of course, state governments are far better suited to rolling out a mass vaccination program, then the friendly GP down the road. 

The procurement of the vaccines was slow and put Australia at a disadvantage. Larger markets, such as the United Kingdom and the United States were ordering vast quantities of vaccines as early as May 2020 (Murphy, 2021). It wasn't until four months later, in September 2020, that the Australian government ordered 85 million doses of  vaccines, comprised of AstraZeneca and a vaccine developed by the University of Queensland (Harvey, Koloff & Wiggins, 2021). In December 2020, the UQ vaccine was scrapped after trials were giving false positives for HIV. Although Pfizer approached the government in June 2020, it wasn't until November 2020 that the government ordered 10 million doses. The federal government has since ordered another 40 million doses of Novavax, which will not be delivered until late 2021. It has also ordered 25 million doses of Moderna, which will commence delivery in late 2021 and be finalised in 2022.

Both AstraZeneca and Pfizer began arriving in Australia in February 2021. Following criticism of the slow roll-out, the government claimed that the European Union blocked 3.1 million doses of AstraZeneca to Australia, in order to meet EU demand. The EU however, claims it was only 250,000 doses that were redirected from Australia to EU nations (Hawke 2021). Either way, it is well less than 10% of Australia's orders that were impacted by the EU's decision to prioritise European nations over other nations. Additionally, AstraZeneca can also be manufactured in Australia. This excuse by Prime Minister Morrison is lame.

Australia's sluggish vaccine roll-out is affecting people and businesses as lockdowns loom whenever clusters of COVID appear. The vaccine roll-out is at least two months behind schedule (Ting, Scott & Palmer, 2021).

The contradictory messages from the government included warnings about the dangers of AstraZeneca and changing the age limits that could access it, as well as implying that there was no rush to be vaccinated (Tingle, 2021). AstraZeneca was approved by Australia's pharmaceutical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, for use in people aged over 18. Initially, AstraZeneca was available for all adults, then the government recommended it only for over-50s, then to over-60s. As a result, many people are refusing to take AstraZeneca, even though the likelihood of serious adverse reactions is exceptionally low. The likelihood of death from AstraZeneca is one in two million; the chance of being struck by lightning is four times this, while the chance of dying from Aspirin is 200 times greater than dying from AstraZeneca (Grills, 2021). This isn't some theoretical figure postulated by academics based on guestimates; it is based on reviewing the affects of more than two billion COVID-19 vaccinations administered globally. 

Australia has far more AstraZeneca than Pfizer at this stage, and the refusal by many to take it because of media fear-mongering and contradictory government advice, has exacerbated the low take-up of vaccinations. Following a National Cabinet meeting on 28 June 2021, Morrison announced that AstraZeneca would be available for any adult of any age who asks for it (Clun, 2021). This may help to improve the roll-out of vaccinations, however, the government will need to address the fear-mongering and its own mixed messages around this vaccine.

Despite the horrendous death toll in aged care facilities, only one third of aged care workers have so far been vaccinated (Lucas, 2021). The National Cabinet meeting of 28 June 2021, has decreed that vaccinations will be mandatory for aged care workers (Clun, 2021).

The Morrison government is under fire from every state and territory leader for its botched vaccination roll-out (Remeikis, 2021). New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, criticised the Commonwealth government's lack of pandemic planning as the greater Sydney area was forced into a lockdown in late June 2021. This, just days after Prime Minister Morrison praised Berejiklian for her 'gold standard' pandemic response in not locking the state down despite a growing number of infections. Berejiklian initially resisted lockdown so that she could demonstrate that the Victorian government's lockdowns were an over-reaction. This political ploy backfired spectacularly when the Delta-strain of the virus spread uncontrolled through Sydney infecting dozens of people, forcing Berejiklian to institute a lockdown (Raper, 2021). This essentially justified Victoria's rapid lockdown response in containing the spread of the virus. Now, instead of returning Morrison's praise, Berejiklian has joined other state and territory leaders in criticising Morrison's incompetent pandemic response, calling for him to ramp up the vaccine roll-out to reduce the likelihood of future lockdowns and lessen the impacts on health and the economy. Berejiklian went on to state, 'Our GPs want to do more. They want more doses and they also want more GPs to come online. That is necessary. That is not something that the New South Wales government can control' (Remeikis, 2021). This isn't something that any state can control; the supply of  vaccines is purely in the hands of the federal government.

Conclusion

 The Morrison government's response to COVID-19 is almost as inept as former president Trump's COVID-19 response. Trump's ineptitude cost more than 420,000 lives in the US before he was spectacularly booted from office. 

If it wasn't for the strict lockdowns and decisive actions taken by the various state governments, Australia would have faced far more deaths than it has. Senator Katy Gallagher, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, stated 'It was the states who took the big brave decisions at the right time and forced the hand of the Federal Government, that was resisting pressure to take stronger action. Without the strong advocacy displayed by state premiers for bolder measures — particularly by NSW and Victoria — Australia's experience with the pandemic could have been very different. Thank goodness for the states' (Roy, 2020).

Morrison continues criticising the states every time there is a lockdown, however, those lockdowns are the result of the international travellers that he continues to allow into the country, the lack of dedicated quarantine facilities for those travellers, and his bungled vaccine program. Each of these things are directly attributable to Morrison and the federal government. It is only the federal government who can fix each of these issues. Morrison has had more than 12 months to create purpose-built quarantine facilities to REPLACE hotel quarantine, which will be necessary for international travel to continue. And of course, improving the vaccine roll-out will help protect the community and enable it to return to relative normality. Instead of a competent and strong leader who can address these factors, we have a Prime Minister who shirks responsibility and blames others.  

References

Chen, D, 2021, Scott Morrison proposes Brisbane COVID-19 quarantine hub, rejects Wellcamp Airport proposal, ABC News, 25 June 2021, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-24/pm-covid-19-quarantine-hub-hotel-army-barracks-brisbane-wellcamp/100242960.

Clun, R, 2021, AstraZeneca vaccine available to all adults, jabs mandated for aged care workers, Brisbane Times, 28 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/mandatory-vaccines-for-aged-care-workers-quarantine-to-be-separated-20210628-p5850h.html. 

Crowe, D, 2021, Deal in sight for $200m quarantine facility near Avalon Airport, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/deal-in-sight-for-200m-quarantine-facility-near-avalon-airport-20210603-p57xwb.html.

Department of Health, 2021a, Coronavirus (COVID-19) current situation and case numbers, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers.

Department of Health, 2021b, COVID-19 cases in aged care services – residential care, 26 June, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-cases-in-aged-care-services-residential-care.

Department of Health, 2021c, COVID-19 deaths by age group and sex, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-deaths-by-age-group-and-sex.

Grills, N, 2021, Getting a Covid jab is safer than taking Aspirin, Pursuit, 21 June, viewed 23 June 2021, University of Melbourne, https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/getting-a-covid-jab-is-safer-than-taking-aspirin.

Harvey, A, Koloff, S, & Wiggins, N, 2021, How Australia's COVID vaccine rollout has fallen short and left us 'in a precarious position', ABC News, 24 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-24/australia-covid-vaccine-rollout-what-went-wrong/100151396.

Hawke, J, 2021, European Union denies claim it blocked shipment of 3.1 million AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to Australia, ABC News, 7 April, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-07/eu-denies-blocked-shipment-over-3-million-vaccines-to-australia/100052134. 

Lucas, C, 2021, Two-thirds of staff in aged care homes not vaccinated, The Age, 26 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/two-thirds-of-staff-in-aged-care-homes-not-vaccinated-20210624-p583vv.html. 

Mao, F, 2020, Coronavirus: How did Australia's Ruby Princess cruise debacle happen?, BBC, 24 March, viewed 26 June 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51999845.

Murphy, K, 2021, Scott Morrison was so keen to own a successful vaccine rollout he forgot about the risk of overseeing a debacle, The Guardian, 17 April, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/17/scott-morrison-was-so-keen-to-own-a-successful-vaccine-rollout-he-forgot-about-the-risk-of-overseeing-a-debacle.

Raper, A, 2021, Gladys Berejiklian insists COVID-19 lockdown is based on health advice, not politics, ABC News, 27 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-27/analysis-gladys-berejiklian-delayed-nsw-covid19-lockdown/100247422.

Remeikis, A, 2021, Gladys Berejiklian voices vaccine frustration at federal government ahead of national cabinet meeting, The Guardian, 28 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/28/gladys-berejiklian-voices-frustration-at-federal-government-ahead-of-national-cabinet-meeting.

Roy, T, 2020, COVID-19 inquiry makes six recommendations including a permanent rise in JobSeeker, ABC News, 9 December, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-09/covid-committee-interim-report-released-six-recommendations/12968080.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2020, Aged Care and COVID-19: a special report, 30 September, viewed 26 June 2021, https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/aged-care-and-covid-19-special-report.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2021, Final report, 1 March, viewed 26 June 2021, https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report.

Parliament of Australia, 2020, Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 - Interim report, December 2020, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/COVID-19/COVID19/Interim_Report/section.

Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, Report, 14 August, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/report. 

Ting, I, Scott, N, & Palmer, A, 2021, Untangling Australia’s vaccine rollout timetable, ABC News, 30 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-28/untangling-australia-s-covid-vaccine-rollout-timetable/100156720. 

Tingle, L, 2021, If the public has vaccine hesitancy, the government has developed strategy hesitancy, ABC News, 22 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-22/if-public-has-vaccine-hesitancy-government-strategy-hesitancy/100154798.

Victorian Government, 2021, COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry - Final Report, 21 December, viewed 27 June 2021, https://www.quarantineinquiry.vic.gov.au/.

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

By Ranting Panda, 21 June 2021. 

Australia has a long sordid history of brutalising, torturing, imprisoning, victimising, and demonising innocent people. It started with European settlement, when indigenous peoples were murdered, incarcerated, raped, forcibly removed from the own lands, stolen from their families, and forced into slave labour for little if any recompense. It continues to this day, with an over-representation of indigenous people in prison, and a significantly high number of indigenous deaths in custody. This is a horrendous blight on the Australian character. So it is no surprise, that for more than 20 years, Australia has brutalised, tortured, imprisoned and demonised asylum seekers and refugees. 

Ironically, the leaders of Australia who have implemented and boasted of these brutal, racist policies, claim to be Christian and enjoy the support of many churches. Which is interesting, because the Bible has numerous verses about welcoming migrants into the land and treating them well. 

These leaders also claim to be defending Australia's national interests, even though the National Anthem declares, 'For those who've come across the seas we've boundless plains to share'. These are rather empty words for a government that has shored up its power through demonising migrants. 

Religion and nationalism ... what could go wrong?

There have been numerous high-profile incidents over the last two decades regarding asylum seekers and refugees. What each of these incidents revealed was that the Australian government lied and pandered to racism and xenophobia for political point-scoring by demonising and brutalising traumatised people who had simply requested protection from war and persecution. 

There was the Children Overboard scandal, in which a Senate inquiry found that the Howard government lied about refugees throwing their children into the sea. It wasn't the refugees who lacked morals, it was the Howard government. 

Remember Baby Asha? The Australian Medical Association accused then Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, of state-sanctioned child abuse over his detention of a baby girl and his threats to send her to the desolate detention centre on Nauru. Dutton made false allegations about the girl's mother physically abusing her. 

Most recently, there has been the case of the Murugappan family. Nades Murugappan arrived by boat in Australia in 2012. Priya Nadesalingam arrived by boat in 2013. They were both Tamils from Sri Lanka. Both were seeking protection in Australia. The Tamil couple met in immigration detention and married in 2014. That year they were both released into the community on four-year protection visas. While in the community, they had two children; one born in May 2015 and one in June 2017. The family had settled in the rural Queensland town of Biloela. Nades worked in the local abattoir. The family was doing their best to settle into Australia and be productive members of society. No doubt, they hoped they were worthy of permanent visas. 

Murugappan family (Photo: Semmler, 2021)

In 2018, their temporary visas expired and the entire family was detained by Australian Border Force, even though their two children were Australian-born. The family were transferred to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne. The Biloela township campaigned for their release. The family was popular in the town and welcomed by the community. This is significant, given that rural Queensland tends to be politically conservative. 

On 29 August 2019, after several unsuccessful appeals by the Murugappans, the government placed the entire family on a plane bound for Sri Lanka. However, an injunction was granted before the plane left Australian air-space, prohibiting the family from being removed from Australia because the younger child had not been assessed for a protection visa. The plane landed at Darwin. The family was then transported to the Christmas Island detention centre. In May 2021, the youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, became severely ill with septicaemia. Tharnicaa and her mother were flown from Christmas Island to a hospital in Perth for treatment.

It is not illegal to arrive in Australia without a visa and then request protection because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group (Home Affairs, 2020).

Following Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, Tamils have faced discrimination and marginalisation. Tamil's are predominantly comprised of Muslims and Christians. In 1978, the Sri Lankan constitution established Buddhism as the foremost religion, vesting the Sinhalese majority with more rights than others in the country. In 1983, following years of ethnic oppression, Sri Lanka descended into civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Around 100,000 people were killed and 800,000 displaced. 

Since the war ended, the Sri Lankan government has increased its military presence in northern Sri Lanka, where the majority of Tamils live. This has increased the fear of persecution for those living there, and for those who wish to return. Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of enforced disappearances in the world. 

Unfortunately for the Murugappan's, Australian courts have found that they do not have a well-founded fear of persecution. However, this defies the concerns held by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and human rights groups, for the safety and welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. There is increasing evidence of Tamils who have returned to Sri Lanka being subject to 'abductions, sexual and physical violence, and state-sanctioned torture'. (Walden 2021)

It appears that the Australian courts' determination is based on flawed country advice regarding the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka. A British court has challenged the veracity of these country reports used by both Australia and Britain (Walden 2021). Although politically convenient for the anti-refugee policies of the Australian government, these decisions can cost lives. The government inaccurately demonises the Murugappan's as 'illegal', but it should be kept in mind that refoulement is illegal under international law. Article 33 of the UN Refugee Convention states: 'No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion' (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010).

There have been dozens of documented cases of asylum seekers forcibly returned by Australia who have been killed, tortured, detained or disappeared on their arrival in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020). The Asian Human Rights Commission has identified more than 400 cases of Tamil and Sinhalese asylum seekers being tortured on their return to Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020).

The government tries to argue that showing compassion to the Murugappans would signal to people smugglers that Australia was 'open for business', and the boats would start up again. This argument is not rooted in fact, but in emotion and fear for political purposes ... again, pandering to xenophobia in the Australian community. 

Australia can show compassion without brutalising and torturing innocent people. The United Nations has determined that Australia's harsh detention of asylum seekers breaches the international Convention Against Torture (Human Rights Law Centre, 2015). Further, Australia's immigration detention policies breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations Human Rights, 2019). 

The Murugappans have committed no crimes, but were detained for years without charge. While they were on protection visas, they did everything that could be expected, including maintaining employment and integrating into the community. The Murugappans are an asset to Australia, they are not a liability, they are not criminals, they are not a burden on society. 

This week, after significant campaigning by human rights groups and the community, the government released the Murugappans into community detention in Perth. However, they are not allowed to return to Biloela despite the contribution they made to the town. 

The government has created an expensive problem through its brutal treatment of asylum seekers. Its refusal to allow genuine refugees to be granted permanent protection visas has resulted in a legacy case-load of more than 18,000 asylum seekers accumulated over the last 15 years or so, to whom the government refuses to issue permanent visas, even though each one of them renews their visas every few years by proving they still face a well-founded fear of persecution (Speers, 2021). The Australian government has spent more than $6 million on the three year detention of the Murugappan family (Mao, 2021). 

Hannah Arendt believed that everyone had the 'right to have rights' and to belong somewhere safe, where their rights will be respected (Hirsch & Bell, 2017). Australia is a country that is generally safe and is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, so it should be a safe haven for refugees. Australia should not be eroding people's rights or forcing innocent people into dangerous, and possibly deadly, situations. 

Instead of torturing innocent people, instead of detaining children and their hard-working parents, instead of forcibly removing loyal parents and their Australian-born children, Australia would benefit from the government granting permanent protection visas to Nandes and Priya; a couple who have demonstrated their desire and ability to integrate into the community. 

References

Department of Home Affairs, 2020, Refugee and Humanitarian program - Australia's protection obligations, viewed 20 June 2021, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/seek-protection-in-australia/australia-protection-obligations. 

Doherty, B, & Geraets, N, 2020, Deported to danger and death: Australia returns people to violence and persecution, The Guardian, 14 December, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/14/deported-to-danger-and-death-australia-returns-people-to-violence-and-persecution.

Hirsch, A, & Bell, N, 2017, What can Hannah Arendt teach us about today's refugee crisis?, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, 10 October, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/10/what-can-hannah.

Human Rights Law Centre, 2015, UN finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture, 9 March, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/un-finds-australias-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-violates-the-convention-against-torture. 

Mao, F, Biloela family: Locked up by Australia for three years, BBC News, 10 May, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56768529. 

Semmler, E and staff, 2021, Biloela family asylum-seeker girl evacuated from Christmas Island with suspected septicaemia, ABC News, 7 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-07/biloela-girl-in-medical-evacuation-from-christmas-island/100196456.

Speers, D, 2021, The government has 18,000 reasons not to grant the Murugappan family permanent visas, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/government-18000-reasons-not-grant-murugappan-biloela-visas/100220476. 

United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010, Convention and Protocol relating to the status of Refugees, viewed 20 June 2021, http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/3b66c2aa10. 

United Nations Human Rights, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2019,  Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Australia, 1 November, viewed 20 June 2021, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/AUS/CO/5-6&Lang=En.

Walden, M, 2021, Australia deems Sri Lanka safe for Tamils like the Murugappan family from Biloela. But is it?, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/sri-lanka-tamil-asylum-explainer-australia-deportations/100213684.

Related Ranting Panda articles 

Peter Dutton versus Baby Asha, AMA & the UN, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2016/02/peter-dutton-versus-baby-asha-ama-un.html

Howard's Legacy & the Haughty Hypocrisy, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2012/03/howards-legacy-haughty-hypocrisy.html

Refugees represent the vanguard of their peoples, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/06/refugees-represent-vanguard-of-their.html. 

Australia - aiding and abetting global brutality, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/12/australia-aiding-and-abetting-global.html.

Koup Klutz Klan

 Koup Klutz Klan

By Ranting Panda, 13 June 2021

6 January 2021. The date that traitors stormed the US Capitol in an effort to usurp democracy and keep Donald Trump as President. Trump was resoundingly defeated in a valid election, but neither he nor his supporters could accept the truth. Even today, Trump still believes that he won the election. 

Trump's followers, gullible and gutless, refused to take responsibility for the insurrection, and instead blamed Antifa for it. The FBI, however, confirmed that it was Trump loyalists who staged this coup attempt (Anderson 2021, Sadeghi, 2021). Antifa isn't a threat to democracy. The real threat is the MAGA cult, with its inability to grasp truth, its willingness to rewrite 'facts' to suit its ignorance, its hatred of anyone who is different, its twisted religious fervour, and violent nationalism. They wanted to kill the Vice President during the coup attempt. They'd bought wrist ties & built a noose. These people are not right in the head.

There's no point arguing with MAGA cultists. It doesn't matter what facts are presented, they are so brainwashed that they can't accept truth, fact or reality. Just like cult-members, the MAGAs need de-programming, otherwise they stick with their self-pitying, paranoid, victimhood talking points that Trump cultivated and nourished. 

Trump deliberately attacks truth in order to create doubt about facts. He once admitted to a journalist that he attacks the media to, 'discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you' (Applebaum, 2020). This is one thing that Trump has been very successful at. His supporters lack the critical thinking skills to challenge Trump's blatant lies; they believe everything he says. The real danger of this is that despots are renowned for their propaganda, manipulation of media and use of falsehoods and fear to manipulate the populace. 

When Twitter purged its platform of Trump and many of his adherents because of their flagrant lies, conspiracy theories and hate speech, the MAGAs claimed it was an attack on their freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech doesn't mean that others have to listen to it. Twitter was cleaning house ... as anyone can if some racist fool comes into their house and starts spewing vitriol. MAGAs can get their own soapbox and head down to the local corner to spew their vile hate-speech, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and victim-mentality rubbish.  

Freedom of speech only goes one way for the MAGAs; the moment anyone has a contrary viewpoint, the MAGAs screech socialism and 'Reds under the bed' conspiracy theories. They believe that if someone challenges them, they are victims of 'cancel culture' ... yet, the MAGAS tried to cancel an election because they didn't get their own way. They only believe in freedom of speech for themselves, not for anyone else.

Stripe Inc ceased processing payments for the Trump election campaign because of the 6 January insurrection (Andriotis, Rudegeair, & Glazer, 2021). Ever portraying themselves as victims, the Pity Party MAGAs claimed it was yet another attack on their freedoms. However, the action by Stripe was similar to the action that financial institutions took in dealing with terrorism. And the Trump cult is a terrorist organisation, evidenced by their violent attack on the very heart of US government.

Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection. It needs to be kept in mind, that he did nothing during this riot to quell it. He was hoping that the coup would succeed and install him for another term ... perhaps a perpetual term in which he never loses (Applebaum, 2020). Trump is anti-democratic and only interested in his own power. Despite significant evidence of Trump directly inciting the coup attempt, the Republican Party voted against convicting him at his second impeachment trial (Holpuch, 2021). This says a lot about how anti-democratic the Republican party is. They try to claim they are patriotic defenders of democracy, but they value power over free and fair elections. Republicans value authoritarianism over liberty.

During riots following Black Lives Matter protests, Trump big-noted himself by dog-whistling to his racist followers that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (Burns, 2020). Trump incited violence with this tweet. A couple of months later, a gutless piece of shit named Kyle Rittenhouse, shot dead BLM protesters. Trump and his followers supported these killings (Wilson, 2021). Yet, when it came to the Capitol riots, Trump didn't threaten to shoot the protesters, instead, he supported them and even told them how much he loved them (Caldwell, 2021). Although he eventually told the rioters to go home, he did it under duress. Trump had an expletive-laced argument with House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, after McCarthy told Trump to call the rioters off because they were Trump supporters. Trump abused McCarthy, telling him that the rioters cared more about the election than McCarthy did (Gangel et al, 2021). Republican senator, Ben Passe, claimed that Trump was delighted that the Capitol was being stormed (Papenfuss, 2021). 

Prior to the riot, Trump gave a speech in which he told his supporters to 'fight like hell' or they would lose their country because, according to him (and in keeping with his admitted attacks on truth mentioned earlier), the election was corrupt. He then told his supporters to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to 'try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country' (Blake, 2021). Trump directed conspiracy-theorist, Alex Jones, to lead the march that stormed the White House (Linge, 2021). It took six hours for the situation to be brought under control. This period revealed Trump's leadership to be paralysed, to be no more than a passive viewer who stood back as five people, including a police officer, were killed by his supporters (Parker, Dawsey & Rucker, 2021). 

Only weeks before the riot, Trump the Grand Traitor, directed the neo-Nazi Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' (Pilkington, 2021). Now we know what he was asking them to stand by for. 

This isn't the first time he has supported violence. In 2017, he condoned white supremacist violence that culminated in the killing of an innocent woman. He even went so far as to describe the white supremacists as 'very fine people' (Coaston, 2019). Throughout his presidency, he directly incited violence by white supremacist groups (Pilkington 2021). 

The traitors who stormed the Capitol included Nazis wearing shirts such as 'Camp Aushwitz - Work brings freedom' and '6MWE', which stands for Six Million Were Not Enough ... in reference to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. These are the extremist groups that Trump claims are 'very fine people' (Kessler, 2020).

Trump and his followers are white supremacists. They believe in fascism, not democracy. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a mass casualty event every single day of the final year of Trump's presidency, culminating in more than 420,000 deaths by the time he was finally removed from the White House. The deaths were directly caused by Trump's lies, inaction and incompetence. This puerile moron was more interested in shoring up his own power, while spreading lies, hatred and division, than in saving his fellow Americans. His incompetence was on a genocidal scale.

Republicans claim they are the 'law and order' party, yet they've let Trump get away with murder ... literally: around 420,000 deaths from his ineptitude in addressing Covid-19, five deaths during the insurrection he orchestrated, and several executions that he directed in the final days of his presidency (Honderich, 2021). They have let him get away with his threats and cheating over the election, such as when he rang the Secretary of State for Georgia and demanded more votes be found to overturn the election results (Morris, 2021). Does this seem like the leader of the free world, or the tyrannical dictatorship of a far-right murderous despot in a banana republic?

The Republican Party  condoned Trump's treason, by voting against holding an inquiry into the Capitol insurrection (Fandos, 2021). The Republicans are not defending democracy, they are defending the traitors within their own party. They are defending Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism. 

Nothing was done about the deadly 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville ... and this culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Nazis. The Trump presidency wasn't the first time that white supremacists were incited to violence by a megalomaniac. Another leader also incited mobs to violence by using racist dog-whistling and bigoted fear-mongering ... and nothing was done to stop it! That leader was Hitler and we saw how that went. Many of the Capitol insurrectionists were Christians who believed they were doing God's will to keep Trump in power (Green, 2021). They claimed that God was telling them to 'let the church roar' (Posner, 2021). This has an eerie resemblance to Nazi Germany. Throughout his rambling manifesto, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated numerous times that he was doing the 'work of the Lord'. Not surprisingly, this galvanised Christians to support Hitler and incited them to violence and, ultimately, genocide. 

Today's United States faces the same threat of Nazism that Nazi Germany did (Brenner, 2021). The Republican Party has links to many far-right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and QAnon (Broadwater & Rosenberg, 2021).

No leader has damaged the US as much as Trump has. All the efforts by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to bring down the US never undermined democracy as much as Trump. It's not surprising then, that Trump is alleged to have been cultivated by Russia to undermine US democracy. An ex-KGB spy claims that Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for 40 years (Smith, 2021). A book by journalist, Craig Unger, entitled American Kompromat, states that the spy alleged there were celebrations in Moscow as Trump parroted anti-Western propaganda (Smith, 2021). 

Trump did significant damage to US democracy, however, what may have saved it was Trump's mental instability and his complete ineptitude as a leader. This ineptitude however, killed more Americans than World War 2. 

Meanwhile, Republicans continue supporting Trump. There's even talk that he will run for president in the 2024 elections. This is a clear indication of just how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is, and by extension, the Christians who continue supporting and defending Trump in the face of significant evidence of his genocide, treason and white supremacy. 

In 1993, musician Frank Zappa, made the prescient observation, 'There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitude here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party' (Ouellette, 1993). 

Nothing has yet been done to hold Trump to account for the Covid genocide in the US, that is directly attributable to him. Nothing has been done to stop Trump inciting Nazis and conservative Christians to violence, so we have not seen the end of extreme right-wing blood-shed, insurrection, and treason. Allowing Trump to continue empowering these extremists could signal the end of democracy and the rise of fascism in the United States. 

References

Anderson, M 2021, Antifa Didn't Storm The Capitol. Just Ask The Rioters, NPR, 2 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters.

Andriotis, A, Rudegeair, P, & Glazer, E, 2021, Stripe stops processing payments for Trump campaign website, The Wall Street Journal, 10 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-stops-processing-payments-for-trump-campaign-website-11610319116. 

Applebaum, A, 2020, Trump won't accept defeat. Ever., The Atlantic, 7 November, viewed 13 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trumps-forever-campaign-is-just-getting-started/617021/.

Blake, A 2021, What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated, The Washington Post, 11 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/.

Brenner, M 2021, Pre-Nazi Germany tells us the fight to save American democracy is just beginning, The Washington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/09/pre-nazi-germany-tells-us-fight-save-american-democracy-is-just-beginning/. 

Broadwater, L, & Rosenburg, M 2021, Republican ties to extremist groups under scrutiny, Hartford Courant, 29 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-gop-extremist-groups-20210129-fstili3spvea7fss3mdsobu5eu-story.html.

Burns, K 2020, The racist history of Trump’s “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet, Vox, 29 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/29/21274754/racist-history-trump-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts. 

Caldwell, T 2021, Trump's 'We love you' to Capitol rioters is more of the same, CNN, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/trump-history-comments-trnd/index.html.

Coaston, J 2019, Trump’s new defense of his Charlottesville comments is incredibly false, Vox, 26 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville.

Fandos, N 2021, Democrats failed to get enough votes for an independent inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, The New York Times, 28 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/capitol-riot-commission.html.

Gangel, J, Liptak, K, Warren, M, & Cohen, M 2021, New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters, CNN, 13 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html. 

Green, E 2021, A Christian Insurrection, The Atlantic, 8 January, viewed 7 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/. 

Holpuch, A 2021, 'White supremacy won today': critics condemn Trump acquittal as racist vote, The Guardian, 14 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/14/trump-acquittal-white-supremacy-racist-vote. 

Honderich, H 2021, In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions, BBC News, 16 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260.

Kessler, G 2020, The ‘very fine people’ at Charlottesville: Who were they?, The Washington Post, 8 May, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/.

Linge, M 2021, Alex Jones claims he funded rally that led to Capitol chaos, The New York Post, 9 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/alex-jones-claims-he-funded-rally-that-led-to-capitol-chaos/.

Morris, J 2021, Georgia secretary of state's office launches investigation into Trump's phone call, CNN, 16 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/georgia-secretary-of-state-trump-investigation/index.html.

Ouellette, D 1993, Frank Zappa, Pulse!, August 1993, sourced from https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm.

Papenfuss, M 2021, Trump Was 'Delighted' His Supporters Stormed The Capitol, Says GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, Huffington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ben-sasse-delighted-trump-capitol-attack_n_5ff93b1bc5b6c77d85e6df60.

Parker, A, Dawsey, J, & Rucker, P 2021, Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol, The Washington Post, 12 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html.

Pilkington, E 2021, 'Stand back and stand by': how Trumpism led to the Capitol siege, The Guardian, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/donald-trump-armed-protest-capitol.

Posner, S 2021, How the Christian right helped foment insurrection, Reveal News, 30 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://revealnews.org/article/how-the-christian-right-helped-foment-insurrection/.

Sadeghi, M 2021, Fact check: What's true about the Capitol riot, from antifa to BLM to Chuck Norris, USA Today, 14 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/14/fact-check-truth-capitol-riot-antifa-chuck-norris/6653343002/.

Smith, D 2021, 'The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy, The Guardian, 29 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book.

Wilson, J 2021, US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals, The Guardian, 16 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach.

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world 

Conservative cancel culture & the perpetually offended right-wing

By Ranting Panda, 1 June 2021

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to rile a conservative? There are so many ways. I mean, just mention how easily offended people are today. Said conservative will launch into a tirade about everyone being offended so easily these days. A great response is to agree and then pick a topic, like 'Black Lives Matter, 'Australia Day should be moved', or 'Trump is a traitor'. Bust out the pop-corn, sit back and watch the fireworks. It's kinda ironic how easily offended conservatives are as they wail about how easily offended everyone else is. 

Another way to rile a conservative is to talk about political correctness and being 'woke'. Apparently being woke or politically correct is bad. Just ask a conservative. 'Woke' is just another word for critical thinking, however conservatives idea of critical thinking is to go 'conclusion shopping', that is they will seek out confirmation bias to support their ignorant beliefs. Being woke means to appreciate people (regardless of differences), the environment, and science ... without bigotry or ignorance. Critical thinking means that a person would change their views if presented with compelling evidence to the contrary. It's not surprising that conservatives reject being 'woke'; they aren't renowned for their critical thinking or self-reflection abilities. They believe anything they are told if it confirms their own bigoted biases, while criticising science and academic study. 

For conservatives, being 'woke', being considerate of others, the environment, and appreciating science, are all part of a Marxist plot.

But my personal favourite way to peeve a conservative is to discuss 'cancel culture'. Holy. Mother. Of. God. They will go off like a fruit bat in a mango tree at sunset! They'll get their knickers in a twist every tim; which doesn't solve anything, but it makes them walk funny. Conservatives often melt down over left-wing 'cancel culture'. Which is ironic because conservatives cancel everything!

Dare to question a conservative's uninformed opinion and they'll screech that their freedom speech is being curtailed, that everyone is easily offended, and that they're SICK AND TIRED of political correctness, woke snowflakes, lefty scientists, and GOD DAMN neo-Marxist cancel culture! Funny shit, really. 

Conservatives continue living in the dark ages, condemning anything and anyone who questions their ignorance.

Actual image of conservative cancel culture

A couple of recent decisions offended the sensibilities of conservatives so much that they took to social media to wail about 'do-gooder snowflakes' and 'political correctness gone mad'.

One decision was by Dr Seuss Enterprises, who decided to cease production of six of their own books that they felt were overtly racist. This was a business decision of the company and not the result of campaigning by any group (Helmore, 2021). Conservatives claim the books were banned by lefty snowflakes, however, they were not banned nor have they become illegal; they are just not being published because of a decision by the publisher. 

The second decision was by Hasbro who manufacturers the Mr Potato Head series. Hasbro rebranded it to 'Potato Head'. 

Yeah. That's it. Offended yet? Well ... our resident conservative snowflakes melted down like a ... er ... snowflake in the heat. 

Apparently, the 'de-genderisation' of a pretend potato was some sort of left-wing woke agenda to remove gender from society ... according to conservatives. In fact, according arch-conservative commentator, Piers Morgan, this was a harbinger of the apocalypse: '... woke imbeciles are destroying the world' (Mellor 2021).  It was nothing of the sort. Try to follow me here. There is the brand and then there are the products within that brand. The products include Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head, and soon there will be little Potato Head children. Hasbro felt it looked a bit weird packaging Mrs Potato Head with a Mr Potato Head brand sitting on it, so they made the brand 'Potato Head' in order to more openly accommodate the various products sitting under that brand. So conservatives need not panic or rush out and stock up on Potato Heads, because Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head and all the little child Potato Heads will still be available. 

The great Potato Head Crisis of 2021 was summed up nicely by Jon Stewart on Twitter.

Some years are defined by a significant event. For instance, 2020 has been defined by the emergence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Surely, it couldn't get any worse right? Well, 2021 was particularly troubling for Conservatives, because the year was bookended by the Great Potato Head Crisis in February and the Big Bird Controversy in November. Focusing on the big things, Conservatives lost their collective minds over ... checks notes ... Big Bird. In case you're not familiar with this particular character, Big Bird is a muppet from Sesame Street ... a make-believe character of a giant, feathery bird. Said character innocuously tweeted in support of Covid vaccinations. The Conservative establishment melted down like ice-cubes on a hot bitumen road in the middle of summer in North-West Queensland. Big Bird (a pretend character remember) was accused of being a Communist and promoting government propaganda (Gillespie 2021). After all, sending a community health message is Communism according to the ultra-right-wing extremists who seem to dominate the Conservative establishment. 

Speaking of make-believe characters, there is the global phenomenon, Harry Potter, the fictional boy-wizard created by best-selling author, J.K. Rowling. Across the globe, conservative Christians burned or destroyed the Harry Potter books because they depicted witch-craft (Tucker, 2017). Those who didn't burn the books, often protested at cinemas showing the Harry Potter movies, or campaigned to have the books banned or removed from libraries. In 2017, conservative voters torched the books for political reasons, not religious ones. J.K. Rowling was openly criticising the inept, bumbling and racist Donald Trump. Of course, Trump supporters are not well known for having thick skins, so they react poorly to critical thinking and criticism. Trump's cult-like, brainwashed fan-base melted down like snowflakes dropped in a witch's hot cauldron ... 'double, double, toil and trouble'. They burned Rowling's books because of her opposition to Trump (Brockell, 2021). 

It is kind of funny how conservatives melt down over these things while accusing the left-wing of being snowflakes. 

Trivial things trigger intolerant minds.

Some commentators have even blamed President Biden and the Democratic Party for the Dr Seuss and Hasbro decisions, even though they had nothing to do with it (Cillizza, 2021). However, the reality is that conservatives confected their outrage by misrepresenting the facts ... yet again. 

Conservatives talk of 'cancel culture' and 'political correctness gone mad', yet they have their own forms of political correctness and cancel culture. For instance, it is politically incorrect in conservative mindsets to behave in an 'unpatriotic' manner, such as criticising the military action of conservative governments. When the ABC reported on complaints that the Australian military had physically abused asylum seekers, many conservatives claimed it was left-wing bias and that the ABC were traitors ... even though there was video evidence. Similar conservative outrage was unleashed when the ABC reported on alleged war-crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan. Apparently, it was terribly unpatriotic to expect that Australia's defenders of democracy would not commit war crimes. 

When a journalist named Yasmin Abdel-Mageid tweeted about Anzac Day in a manner that was politically incorrect for conservatives, they were so offended that they unleashed a torrent of vile abuse, including threatening her with rape and murder. Yasmin left Australia in the wake of this abuse. This is a shocking example of conservative cancel culture, and is far worse than degenderising a make-believe potato.

Remember when conservative Christians tried to cancel rock music? It was reminiscent of the Central Scrutinizer in Frank Zappa's album, Joe's Garage, in which music was banned. In fact, some Christian conservatives even went so far as to try to cancel anything with a 4/4 beat ... which was a bit awkward when they realised that quite a few Christian songs are based on 4/4. Some pastors quite seriously explained that 4/4 was the devil's music because it emulated the beats of our heart. Yes, the heart has 4 chambers, so 4 beats, so 4/4 is of the devil. I wish this was one of those light-hearted non sequiturs, but no ... they were serious as a ... er ... a heart attack.

Here's a reminder of conservative cancel culture in action:

• cancelled Dixie Chicks and burned their merchandise when they criticised the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• boycotted the NFL because Colin Kapernaeck knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Black Lives Matter
• boycotted Cadbury Chocolate because of Easter Eggs that dared not mention 'Easter' ... even though they were chocolate eggs ... and sold at Easter ...
• boycotted shops and hounded celebrities who said 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.
• boycotted Nascar because it banned confederate flags
• tried to ban Dungeons and Dragons because they believed it to be 'demonic'.

Diversity and inclusion are not high on the conservative agenda. As long as minorities and under-represented people tow the conservative line, then they might be tolerated by conservatives. If minorities want to be heard, to have equality, then conservatives will carry on about political correctness going mad and that the world is being taken over by a some sort of neo-Marxist agenda. In other words, minorities and under-represented people can be seen but not heard.

In May 2021, Australian Defence Force chiefs made the decision to ban diversity and inclusion activities, such as morning teas and lanyards (Greene & Mannheim, 2021). Apparently, this would make Australia a safer place. What it really showed was that as far as the ADF is concerned, Australia is for white, straight males. It meant that conservative cancel culture had cancelled morning teas or wearing rainbow lanyards or ally pins that supported events such as Harmony Day, Women's Day, National Reconciliation Week, or International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). In other words, if you support these issues, conservative snowflakes have one message: don't be seen or heard.

Conservative cancel culture has been with us a long-time. You may recall many centuries ago, the burning of witches, and the Spanish Inquisition. In the 1950s, we saw something similar with the 'Reds under the bed' fear-mongering, in which hundreds of people were arrested, imprisoned, and their careers destroyed, for allegedly have left-wing sympathies. 

In the 1980s, Queensland was very much a hick state with an exceptionally conservative, authoritarian, and corrupt government led by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, supposedly a Christian. Jackboot Joh, as he was known, used the cops as his own personal attack dogs to violently quell protests and concerts. After all, how dare people protest against South African apartheid or the export of uranium, or march in solidarity with indigenous issues. How dare they attend concerts and have fun. Joh's fun police even raided record stores to remove albums that may offend the sensitive ears of conservatives ... even though conservatives would never listen to those albums any way. Joh hated communism so much that he established a fascist police state. He hated anyone who aligned themselves with left-wing politics, including the community radio station, 4ZZZ. Apart from supporting human rights causes and local music, Triple Zed was also holding the government to account over allegations of corruption and police brutality. Thankfully, Triple Zed outlasted Joh and his fascist dictatorship. 

By 1979, Triple Zed was operating out of the iconic and heritage-listed ballroom, Cloudland, which it also used for hosting large international and local bands that drew the ire of Joh and his police bully-boys. Many of ZZZ's journalists were subject to police surveillance and intimidation, and in some cases their homes raided (Stafford, 2004); so paranoid was the government of anyone who questioned them. On the morning of 7 November 1982, Brisbane residents woke to find that Cloudland had been demolished overnight. Joh had directed its illegal demolition without a permit. The demolition was an act of political bastardry against journalism, music and the young people who frequented Cloudland.

Conservatives can't claim the high moral ground against cancel culture, particularly when they are perpetually fearful and looking for things to offend their myopic sensibilities. Recently, they cancelled Coca-Cola, because the world's largest beverage company dared to criticise the Republicans for their anti-democratic voter suppression laws in Georgia (Carter, 2021). 

Conservatives have a very liberal approach to truth. The truth is whatever they say it is, regardless of the facts. Dare to contradict this narrative and you'll find yourself cancelled ... or worse. Conservatives seem to believe that Truth is a tool that Antifa uses to destroy democracy. Give them alternative facts so they don't have to deal with substantiated facts that contradict the comfortable lies they like to believe.

The Godfather of Conservative Hogwash is Donald Trump, former president who told thousands of lies while in power, who embraced and promoted racism, hate-speech, white-supremacy, and normalised lying as 'alternative facts'. In the face of overwhelming evidence that Trump lost the 2020 election, he tried to gaslight the United States into believing the election had been stolen from him. It was truly the most remarkable piece of blatant bullshit by a president in the history of the United States. His gullible followers believed him and refused to accept the legitimacy of the election. On 6 January 2021, whipped into a brainless furore by the Trumpenfuhrer, they stormed Congress in an attempt to cancel the election results. The attack on Congress went further than mere conservative cancel culture; it was an act of treason, of sedition. Republicans have since voted against holding an inquiry into the storming of the Capitol (SBS News, 2021), because they know they are culpable. Conservatives claim to be patriots, but that very act showed they are nothing but gutless traitors who act like spoilt kids if they don't get their own way. They hate democracy, because they don't want anyone else to have a say in running the country. Put it this way, these deluded snowflakes were so offended by losing an election that they tried to cancel democracy. Forget Marxist cancel culture, conservatives showed us fascist cancel culture ... these nutters are extremists, they are terrorists, they are cowards, they are traitors. 

What conservatives call cancel culture, is merely people asking that they be treated with respect. Ironically, conservatives will bemoan the lack of respect in today's society, while defending why they should be able to disrespect, abuse and denigrate others. Respected Australian entertainer, Kamahl, was subject to years of racist taunting while performing on the TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday. He recently made the observation, 'I know they call it cancel culture, but they’re not stopping culture. They’re only trying to limit unnecessarily vulgar or crude terminology or gags or whatever ... If something has merit, if it is witty, if it’s clever, so be it. If it’s crap, maybe we can do without it' (Stafford, 2021).

The problem is that conservatives can't handle criticism. They accuse others of being sensitive snowflakes who are easily offended. Yet, the perpetually offended conservatives have a victim-mentality in which they believe they are being persecuted and their freedom of speech stifled whenever someone argues with them. Challenging falsehoods is not persecution. Asking someone to stop abusing someone else does not make the abuser a victim. All it demonstrates is the persecution-complex that conservatives wallow in.

Cancel culture is an innate part of the conservative psyche. They've been doing it for centuries. 

References

Brockell, G, 2021, Burning books: 6 outrageous, tragic and weird examples in history, The Washington Post, 13 November, viewed 15 November 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/13/book-burning-history.

Carter, A, 2021, Republicans are cancelling Coca-Cola after company denounced Georgia voting law, Now This, 7 April, viewed 7 April 2021, https://nowthisnews.com/news/republicans-are-cancelling-coca-cola-after-company-denounced-georgia-voting-law.

Cillizza, C, 2021, Why Republicans think Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head can save them, CNN, 3 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/cancel-culture-potato-head-muppets-dr-seuss/index.html. 

Gillespie, E, 2021, The tweet from Big Bird that caused waves of backlash from US Republicans and anti-vaxxers, SBS News, 9 November, viewed 14 November 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-tweet-from-big-bird-that-caused-waves-of-backlash-from-us-republicans-and-anti-vaxxers/c72d7924-a22c-43c8-9801-f5569206a25f. 

Greene, A and Mannheim, M, 2021, Defence declares war on political correctness, bans morning teas aimed at promoting inclusion and diversity, ABC News, 21 May, viewed 21 May 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/defence-chief-angus-campbell-political-correctness-morning-teas/100156436.

Helmore, E, 2021, 'It's a moral decision': Dr Seuss books are being 'recalled' not cancelled, expert says, The Guardian, 7 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/07/dr-seuss-books-product-recall-cancel-culture. 

Mellor, J, 2021, Best reactions as usual mouthpieces are foaming over a genderless Potato Head, The London Economic, 26 February, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/best-reactions-as-usual-mouthpieces-are-foaming-over-a-genderless-potato-head-222403/. 

SBS News, 2021, US Senate Republicans block bipartisan inquiry into the deadly 6 January Capitol riot, 29 May, viewed 29 May 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-senate-republicans-block-bipartisan-inquiry-into-the-deadly-6-january-capitol-riot.

Stafford, A, 2004, Pig City - from The Saints to Savage Garden, Chapter 8 - Everybody Moves, Kindle 2014 edition.

Stafford, A, 2021, 'I felt humiliated': Kamahl on racism, Hey Hey It’s Saturday and cancel culture, The Guardian, 27 March, viewed 27 March 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/27/i-felt-humiliated-kamahl-on-racism-hey-hey-its-saturday-and-cancel-culture.

Tucker, T, 2017, What do protests about Harry Potter books teach us?, The Conversation, 26 June, viewed 15 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/what-do-protests-about-harry-potter-books-teach-us-79327. 

Updated 15 November 2021