Today the government made an announcement that, to me, is the single most significant, most exciting act of their governance yet. Perhaps with the exception of the sorry speech. On a par with. OK, maybe not "single most" but certainly significant, certainly exciting, and certainly moving.
As I watched the news tonight as saw snippets of the Immigration Minister Chris Evans' speech, I confess I became a little emotional, probably due to my growing friendship with a recently settled Sudanese woman. Having a close to home reference point is powerful. Anyway, the Minister spoke of using mandatory detention for asylum seekers as a last resort, and abandoning any notion of a "3rd country"settlement". From what I understand, even before today the Labour government has made improvements to processing time for visa applications and refugee status, with current detainees having been held for up to 2 years, which is less than half the maximum time seen under the Howard government. But now, a systemic improvement.
I'm sure there's still problems with the new policy, I'm not even sure it is a cohesive policy at this stage. But the statement of intent is clear. Thank you Kevin.
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