Cannot NOT do something

There has been a lot going on this last week. There was a glimmer of hope of change in a government that appears to be systematically attacking the political issues I am most interested in.

But it didn't happen. 

That wasn't the big thing for me this week.  The big thing was the findings of the Australian Human Rights Commission and, more importantly, the awful response that the government provided to it.

It made my blood boil.

I actually struggled to sleep as I thought about children, just like my Peppa and George, behind bars, wishing for another life outside of confinement and fear of death. I've even blogged about this before!

So, I wrote. I wrote again to my local MP. Who, by the way, I have been playing phone tag with. One day we will meet. 

Here is my next letter:

Hi XXX

Happy New Year! I know you have called me and I have tried to call you back but I am guessing you might be in Canberra at this time of year. The media makes it look like it was a busy week in Canberra.

I am writing to say that that Government’s response to the Australian Human Rights Commission into children in detention centres is appalling and does not represent my views nor, I am sure, many in your electorate.  This issue is not an attack on the Coalition but about how sequential Australian governments are institutionally torturing children who have not had the chance to gain justice in their situation. As an Australian citizen,  I feel the guilt and the weight of the system that I have indirectly supported by voting in governments like yours.

I believe that the treatment of refugees, especially children, has to change.  These children are the same like mine and yours.  The only difference is that they were born in a different country.  They have human rights, and the right to justice and a real childhood. It can change! And last week, the Coalition government could of responded with more compassion, more empathy, more humility and more openness.

But it appears your leader, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, decided to respond with a misinformed, heartless and callous response to the Commission’s findings.

I do not mean to complain every time I write to you XXX.  I haven’t actually written this much to my local MP before.  But, I am not going to keep living in your electorate without letting you know that I do not hold the views your party is portraying.  You are misrepresenting me! And if you keep this up, I will look to someone who will represent me appropriately and encourage others to do the same.

Regards

The only type of detention children should have