BY ALISON DELLIT
"You have sought to excuse your failure to check the accuracy of the reference ... on the grounds that you were merely retelling what a third person had said and not yourself making the claim. With respect, this excuse is disingenuous", wrote prime ministerial spouse Janette Howard in a February 26 letter.
She was not castigating her husband for defaming asylum seekers in October, but lashing Australian journalist Glenn Milne.
Janette Howard was angry at Milne's allegation that she was responsible for the appointment of Peter Hollingworth as governor-general — as well she might be. In the last few weeks, Hollingworth has been exposed as a man more concerned with his own status than with the welfare of others — especially those he was responsible for protecting.
Written under an official government letterhead, and distributed by Prime Minister John Howard's staff, the letter displayed stunning hypocrisy.
During the November federal election, the Coalition government propagated a story that was not true. On the strength on one garbled cable from HMAS Adelaide, immigration minister Philip Ruddock rushed into a press conference to accuse asylum seekers of throwing children into the sea.
The navy corrected the cable a day later. Yet, while the government's false version of events took just four hours to reach the public, the "correction" took more than four months. Only on February 27 did military commander-in-chief Admiral Chris Barrie concede that the whole "children overboard" story was a lie.
During that four months, even more lies were told to the Australian people. Photographs were produced and a "video" cited to "prove" the government's claims.
The government lied in order to demonise and defame some of the most vulnerable and powerless people in the world.
In her letter, Janette Howard demanded an apology from Milne for making accusations against her without proof. Yet John Howard has not offered any apology to the asylum seekers he dishonestly attacked.
The hypocrisy of the Coalition government has been further exposed by the approach cabinet has taken to "the Hollingworth affair".
Hollingworth's handling of sexual abuse cases when he was archbishop of Brisbane has revealed a lack of care for those abused by members of his church. His attempts while governor-general to explain those actions have revealed sexist attitudes and exposed him as a liar.
A February 24 Newspoll found that more than 60% of respondents believe Hollingworth should resign, and 50% think Howard should sack him if he refuses.
Yet Howard will not ask the queen to remove Hollingworth, arguing that there is "insufficient evidence" that Hollingworth behaved badly as governor-general.
If only he had given the asylum seekers he defamed the same consideration.
Howard and Philip Ruddock will attempt to shift the blame for the "children overboard" lies. The most apparent scapegoat is former defence minister Peter Reith. Reith is a convenient patsy because on November 7, air vice-marshall Angus Houston was canny enough to protect himself by telling Reith in unambiguous terms, and in front of witnesses, that the government was spreading false information.
But if no one had the sense and courage to confront Howard in a similar way, it was because he made it very clear that he didn't want to be confronted. From October 10, the prime minister's office was told several times that the evidence was "inconclusive". Howard, Reith, Ruddock and four other ministers were sent an account of the incident — that didn't include children being thrown overboard — on October 8!
But instead of asking some simple questions, they asked their employees to find more "evidence" to back up their outrageous accusations.
The message is clear — if you're white, rich and a friend of the Howard government you are innocent until proven guilty. If you're poor, homeless and desperate, you're guilty even without evidence.
A February 14 Morgan poll showed that 51% of respondents believe that Howard lied during the election campaign. A February 22-23 Age Saulwick poll broadly supported that result, showing that more respondents believe Howard had lied than doubted it.
The "children overboard" lie was just one of many. Howard and Ruddock have accused asylum seekers of being terrorists, being wealthy, of having falsified identification documents, being criminals, of attempting to deny "genuine" refugees safety by "queue jumping", of sewing their children's lips shut, causing riots, being "'un-Australian", not sharing "our common culture", threatening unarmed security guards, being unfit parents and of "blackmailing Australians". None of these accusations have been backed by evidence.
These lies are designed to foster xenophobia and dissuade Australians from identifying with people who flee persecution, hunger, poverty and disease. The underlying assumption is that white or Australian-born people alone deserve the relatively comfortable lifestyle available in this First World country. Darker-skinned or Third World-born peoples must fend for themselves.
Some capitalist media commentators have suggested that the scandal over the government's lies is a "storm in a tea cup". After all, they claim, politicians lie all the time and most Australians support Howard's policy on asylum seekers.
The Saulwick Age poll, however, indicated that support for the government's "Pacific solution" refugee detention policy had fallen to less than 50% for the first time since its inception.
People have been horrified at the scandal, not just because Howard and the Coalition government have lied and shown utter contempt for democracy, but because Howard's, Ruddock's and Reith's lies are designed to make Australians a meaner, more racist people.
Allowing this government any legitimacy after this will send the message that there are some situations which excuse the robbing people of their humanity. Howard, and the whole rotten government, have to go.
From Green Left Weekly, March 6, 2002.
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