What are we so afraid of?

Genuine refugees desire not our jobs, our money nor even our way of life – just our help.

But race-to-the-bottom politics, as it has always done, is muddying the terms of the debate from one of compassion and humanitarian obligation to prejudice and ignorance.

In the simplistic, sound-byte-driven environment that passes for political debate, preying on people’s prejudices is far easier than trying to explain the sanctity of human rights. 

Opportunistic pollies and a complicit mainstream media continue to deliberately create an atmosphere of fear and suspicion by demonising refugees.

If we view refugees as faceless queue- jumpers, rather than fellow human beings who, through no fault of their own, have been thrust into an inhuman hell, we will continue to get hard-hearted refugee policies.

The latest abhorrent tack, to bribe the Cambodian government to take those bound for our waters, marks a breathtaking new low.

Cambodia, a third world country only a generation removed from the brutal genocide of the Khmer Rouge, has neither the infrastructure nor the human rights record to be a “holding cell” for future Australian citizens.

Sadly, no leader, most certainly not the conservative Tony Abbott and anti-ideologue Bill Shorten, has the courage to appear “soft” on refugees.

The refugee experience, articulated so movingly by Karar Hussain on page 22 of today’s Leader, is too achingly real to be hijacked by a populist agenda.

While there is war and barbarism on this earth there will be people prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to escape it.

The majority of these people are escaping devastating and dangerous circumstances.

We should have nothing but empathy for genuine refugees and as a prosperous nation, we have an obligation to help.

And we must never forget who the very first “boat people” to Australia were.