Government should take lesson from Christmas Islanders

It appears from all reporting that what makes the tragedy that occurred on the morning of Wednesday 15 December, 2010 on the shoreline of Christmas Island all the more tragic is that human beings had to watch (and listen) helplessly whilst fellow humans died just metres away. The stories of the traumatised witnesses have painted a horrific picture of what it must have been like … the rope that was dragging a victim from the water going limp; a man most desperately wanting to jump into the waves and rescue a little girl but being held back by others who realised the futility of the attempt; and the realisation that a baby and mother who had been floating on a piece of debris did not emerge after the crashing of a wave.
 
Notably, in none of these recounted stories have the Christmas Islanders alluded to, let alone mentioned, that the human beings in the water were of a different race, citizens of a different country and most likely were not screaming for ‘help’ in English, but in a language or languages perhaps unknown to the rescuers. The fact that the screams would inevitably be coming from ‘unlawful non-citizens’ who in due time would be detained by the Australian Government, appears not to have been a factor in the decisions of the Islanders to respond by rushing down to the cliffs edge, with all the life jackets and ropes that could be mustered, to provide whatever help they could to those innocent, vulnerable drowning people. It is without exception that the stories have been of the unimaginable dread and pain of one human being having to helplessly watch another human being die.
 
In stark contrast to this humanitarian response of the Christmas Islanders, is the response of the Government. Despite this being ” a truly human tragedy”  and the nation “being shocked by what it has seen” the Prime Minister has not visited Christmas Island, to talk (or be photographed) with the survivors of the tragedy. Nor has the Prime Minister made any (public) attempts to meet with the traumatised Christmas Islanders who  “responded with great bravery and great compassion”, and who may just perhaps receive some comfort from knowing that their Prime Minister cares to listen to the stories of their unimaginable experience.  Notably, the media also did not ask the Prime Minister the simple question of ‘will you be going to Christmas Island’?  The distance can hardly be seen as a barrier to such a visit, the Prime Minister was able to make the trip during the busiest of all periods … a federal election campaign, to be photographed patrolling the seas with the Labor member of a Western Sydney electorate.  

It appears that the Prime Minister has not yet attended a memorial service in the presence of those most affected by the tragedy. Notably, such a service has been held in the Christmas Island Detention Centre, where the survivors who are not in hospital have already commenced their indefinite period of mandatory detention.  And in contrast to the emphatic decision of the then Victorian Premier John Brumby to establish a Royal Commission into the Black Saturday Bushfires just days into the aftermath of the fires, a week on, the most Gillard has proposed is a  ‘standing group’; a proposal that has was met with hostility from those invited to participate. So the question remains, why is this human tragedy that has shocked the nation not worthy of the presence of our Prime Minister?
 
The basis of the differing responses of the Christmas Islanders and the Government may be that the Christmas Islanders saw the asylum seekers as fellow human beings in desperate need of help while the Government saw the asylum seekers as ‘unlawful non-citizens’ at the centre of a political issue too hard to control. Not only should the Government learn a lesson from the pure humanitarian response of the Christmas Islanders, but perhaps Australians should take a step back and ask: does the politics of this issue really reflect who we are as human beings? 

Gillard Press Conference