Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC     Date/Time 26
Dec 2014 9:37:45pm It is doubtful that Thomas Wells is writing
for or from the Australian experience, and as such I think we do
need to recognise that the political debate we're having now in
this country is pitched at an entirely different level.  We're
not talking about whether we can or cannot solve the world's
refugee problems or whether there is a moral case for a right to
a decent life. I think we have some far more straightforward
realities that we are presently in denial about and under the
new government it only seems to be getting worse.  If you
observe the rhetoric and the kind of policies it has given rise
to then you'd be forgiven for thinking that Australians believe
that every single person attempting to make their way here via
Indonesia completely fails to meet the definition of a refugee
in the strictest possible sense of that term. This is of course
simply untrue, but to try and argue it is to expect people to
honour commitments