the small library of our knitting guild. It is not an onerous task. I quite like keeping an eye on various sites to find out what is coming up and what knitters think of it. I like listening to the suggestions made by some members of the guild as to which books we should buy and why we should do it.
My love of knitting books dates back to my early teens. Quite by chance I found a book in our local library. It was called "Knitter's Almanac" and was written by a woman called "Elizabeth Zimmerman".
I did not know it then but the book was considered to be radical.
"Once upon a time there was an old woman who loved to knit. She lived with her Old Man in the middle of a woods in a curious one-room schoolhouse which was rather untidy, and full of wool." Thus starts January - in which instructions are given for an "Aran sweater".
The instructions are not of the "using smaller needles cast on x number of stitches" type. Rather, they are a guide to the construction of each item. As the author says, "Directions in knitting 'books' are fine , but their writers have little space to tell you of the small dodges that make all the difference."
I was fascinated. As a "don't tell me what to do" sort of teenager this was my sort of book. The book disappeared from view again. I did not forget it but there were times when I wondered whether it was a book from dreams rather than reality.
Eventually I found a small paperback version of the book on a remainder table in a bookshop that did not sell craft books. What it was doing there I will never know. The man who ran the shop was regarded as a "character" who had no time for such things. Much to my mother's displeasure I bought the book.
"You will never knit anything from that!" she told me. She was wrong. The basic instructions for something called a pi-shawl are in there and I have since knitted more than one of those. I can do it now without looking at the instructions but I needed them to begin with.
And that brings me to an issue with knitting books. I no longer follow instructions. I stopped following instructions after I read this book the first time. Oh, I consulted instructions but I changed things to suit myself. I experimented. It was not knitting confidence that did this - to the contrary. I had little confidence when I set out. More often than not I was hampered by a lack of the right sort of yarn - when I could get yarn at all. It was a matter of making do with what I had or could get.
Along the way I also managed to learn that there are some "rules" if you want to succeed but, within those rules, you can experiment and make something unique rather than a clone of the pattern in front of you.
It was frustrating, sometimes infuriating, at the time but it taught me a lot. For many members of our knitting guild however it is a different story. They know the book. There is a copy in the library. I saw to that. Some of them have read it, or parts of it. They do not knit that way. They see a pattern they think they like. They borrow it or buy it. They buy yarn. They buy needles if necessary. They knit the pattern exactly as it tells them to do it. "It's a pity they did a V neck. I would have preferred a round neck" and "I don't like those shoulders" are common sorts of complaint. Some knitters have problems adjusting the length, especially the sleeve length. Yes, you do have to understand your knitting to do these things sometimes. It is not always simple.
When these problems occur I think of one small book written in a distinctive style by an English woman who married a German and migrated to America. I suspect I would have liked her. She did not follow the rules. She experimented. She had imagination.
I am taking a day off my regular work to demonstrate knitting at our annual Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society show. It should be interesting.
I suspect what Elizabeth Zimmerman has to say about knitting also applies to a good deal of life.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
There are bookmarks and then
there are bookmarks.
You know what I mean don't you? There are times when a reference book I am using will look like a hedgehog. There will be seemingly endless scraps of paper peeking out between the pages. Oh yes, I use bookmarks.
People have given me bookmarks on occasion. They have come in all shapes and colours. Some of them have been just cardboard, others have been cloth, one was leather with a fringed end. There was a fancy embroidered butterfly shaped bookmark that was much too elaborate for me.
There was the cardboard cat made by the Whirlwind that I actually used until my sister accidentally threw it out. There was the longish bookmark with the weights at each end which was supposed to keep a paper back open. (It did not.)
My father has an embroidered - but very masculine - bookmark in his desk dictionary. Like me he also uses a hedgehog of paper scraps.
At the library there is always a container on the loans desk. In it there will be a variety of lost bookmarks. They keep one another company until someone rescues one or more of them.
According to another young friend "they like living at the library more because they get to play with the books at night"!
And now it seems there might be some useful bookmarks. One of the internet book companies has taken to popping one in a parcel. They are printed with useful things. One has the Morse Code alphabet on one side and the NATO phonetic alphabet on the other. I might need those in an emergency. Another has basic piano chords one one side and basic guitar chords on the other. It could be useful in the unlikely event I ever take up a musical instrument. There is a metric to imperial and imperial to metric length mark. Now that really could be useful. This household still uses imperial at times. Yesterday the bookmark was fahrenheit to celsius on one side and litres to gallons on the other - useful when talking to friends in America.
Now I hope they have done one with a Braille alphabet and the manual alphabet (or even the one handed and two handed alphabets?).
I can think of some other potentially useful bookmarks as well. Will I use them? Well yes, of course I will - but they might not go in a book.
You know what I mean don't you? There are times when a reference book I am using will look like a hedgehog. There will be seemingly endless scraps of paper peeking out between the pages. Oh yes, I use bookmarks.
People have given me bookmarks on occasion. They have come in all shapes and colours. Some of them have been just cardboard, others have been cloth, one was leather with a fringed end. There was a fancy embroidered butterfly shaped bookmark that was much too elaborate for me.
There was the cardboard cat made by the Whirlwind that I actually used until my sister accidentally threw it out. There was the longish bookmark with the weights at each end which was supposed to keep a paper back open. (It did not.)
My father has an embroidered - but very masculine - bookmark in his desk dictionary. Like me he also uses a hedgehog of paper scraps.
At the library there is always a container on the loans desk. In it there will be a variety of lost bookmarks. They keep one another company until someone rescues one or more of them.
According to another young friend "they like living at the library more because they get to play with the books at night"!
And now it seems there might be some useful bookmarks. One of the internet book companies has taken to popping one in a parcel. They are printed with useful things. One has the Morse Code alphabet on one side and the NATO phonetic alphabet on the other. I might need those in an emergency. Another has basic piano chords one one side and basic guitar chords on the other. It could be useful in the unlikely event I ever take up a musical instrument. There is a metric to imperial and imperial to metric length mark. Now that really could be useful. This household still uses imperial at times. Yesterday the bookmark was fahrenheit to celsius on one side and litres to gallons on the other - useful when talking to friends in America.
Now I hope they have done one with a Braille alphabet and the manual alphabet (or even the one handed and two handed alphabets?).
I can think of some other potentially useful bookmarks as well. Will I use them? Well yes, of course I will - but they might not go in a book.
Monday, 5 September 2011
There is a car
parked opposite our driveway. It has been there for several days now. There is another parked a little further down the street. It is an almost permanent fixture. There are other cars parked along my regular pedalling route.
These cars do not live in driveways, carports or garages. There is no room for them. They now live in the street.
This is not legal but nobody bothers to enforce the law. It is too difficult to do that. Occasionally, if a car is causing a hazard, the local council will leave a notice asking for it to be removed - or risk being towed away. Even that is difficult.
There was one vehicle which was parked just past a "blind corner". It was there for weeks. A number of people complained about it - especially when two cars came within millimetres of colliding. Everyone believed it had been abandoned. It was there for so long the tyres had gone flat, the windscreen was covered in cobwebs and council notices. We felt sure the council would tow it away. Nothing was done.
Then, one morning, it had gone. It was parked on the lawn of the house across the street from where it had been standing. One of the neighbours, someone I know slightly, told me the owner of the vehicle had been furious at being forced to move it.
It seems to me that there are two major reasons for the increase in street parking. The first is that more people have cars. There is one household I know where there are five cars and four people. Many of the households along my pedalling route have two or three cars and two have four cars. Mum has one. Dad has one. The two eldest children have one each.
The other is that as older houses get knocked down two houses or "homettes" or "duplexes" or "dual dwellings" will be put where there was once just one house. This often means that there is almost no parking space (and not much garden) so people just leave their vehicles in the street.
It is not a particularly safe practice. It is not a desirable one. Nothing is going to stop it.
If we still owned a car we would have had extreme difficulty in entering and exiting our driveway while the car opposite is parked where it is. I doubt the owner knows we do not have a car. They probably do not care. It is their good fortune we do not have one and have not backed into the side of their vehicle. Such things happen.
My brother's vehicle, legally parked in the street in another city, was swiped by a bus recently. The bus company has paid for the repairs but the driver was reportedly trying to avoid a car which was illegally parked on the other side of the street where there is not supposed to be any parking at all.
Of course owning a car is convenient but I wonder whether all these cars are really necessary. It seems to me there is a difference.
These cars do not live in driveways, carports or garages. There is no room for them. They now live in the street.
This is not legal but nobody bothers to enforce the law. It is too difficult to do that. Occasionally, if a car is causing a hazard, the local council will leave a notice asking for it to be removed - or risk being towed away. Even that is difficult.
There was one vehicle which was parked just past a "blind corner". It was there for weeks. A number of people complained about it - especially when two cars came within millimetres of colliding. Everyone believed it had been abandoned. It was there for so long the tyres had gone flat, the windscreen was covered in cobwebs and council notices. We felt sure the council would tow it away. Nothing was done.
Then, one morning, it had gone. It was parked on the lawn of the house across the street from where it had been standing. One of the neighbours, someone I know slightly, told me the owner of the vehicle had been furious at being forced to move it.
It seems to me that there are two major reasons for the increase in street parking. The first is that more people have cars. There is one household I know where there are five cars and four people. Many of the households along my pedalling route have two or three cars and two have four cars. Mum has one. Dad has one. The two eldest children have one each.
The other is that as older houses get knocked down two houses or "homettes" or "duplexes" or "dual dwellings" will be put where there was once just one house. This often means that there is almost no parking space (and not much garden) so people just leave their vehicles in the street.
It is not a particularly safe practice. It is not a desirable one. Nothing is going to stop it.
If we still owned a car we would have had extreme difficulty in entering and exiting our driveway while the car opposite is parked where it is. I doubt the owner knows we do not have a car. They probably do not care. It is their good fortune we do not have one and have not backed into the side of their vehicle. Such things happen.
My brother's vehicle, legally parked in the street in another city, was swiped by a bus recently. The bus company has paid for the repairs but the driver was reportedly trying to avoid a car which was illegally parked on the other side of the street where there is not supposed to be any parking at all.
Of course owning a car is convenient but I wonder whether all these cars are really necessary. It seems to me there is a difference.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
We need to learn to value
silence.
I thought of this again when Vanessa Gebbie tweeted the question, "Writers - do we want or need soundtracks to our e-books."
I do not have any e-books. If I had e-books I would expect them to be silent. I like silence. I can be content with my own thoughts. I do not need an endless stream of radio chatter or music around me.
When I was living in a university hall of residence there were students who would "flip the switch" as soon as they walked into their rooms. This was not the light switch but the switch on their radios. When it became possible to listen to music or the radio on the go they were no doubt among the first to get the devices by which this can be done.
If you go out and about now it is possible to observe people who seem to be permanently attached to their i-pods, MP3 players or whatever the most recent development is. When I travel on the train there is almost always a constant hissing, thumping beat in the background. When I am waiting at traffic lights there will almost always be a car gently shaking to the beat of something which is still called "music". It is just a noise to me. I do not appreciate it.
I have tried. My nephews despair of me - although even they draw the line at much of the most recent "music".
I cannot work against that sort of noise either. I try not to frequent shops which broadcast a radio station or the most recent sounds at a very high decibel level. Even shopping in the local supermarket irritates me because they broadcast a commercial radio station where there are repeated squeals of apparent delight from people who win a CD or a few dollars for tuning in.
Our local independent bookshop also has music in the background. It used to be quiet classical music for the most part. The new owner has different tastes. She plays things that even other customers have mentioned as being "intrusive". Music in a bookshop should surely not intrude on your thoughts?
I suppose our house is different. We do not turn the radio on. We have a small battery operated one for emergency purposes and there is one which is part of the ancient sound system adjacent to the dining area.
There is a collection of records there my mother occasionally listened to but they have scarcely been touched since she died. We are not often in that part of the house. My father and I have some CDs but my father is usually in the garden or the shed. In the evening he prefers to read - with silence in the background.
I do know music. There are things I like very much but I rarely want them to intrude into my listening space.
Even without allowing music to intrude into my listening space I am not sure I am fully aware of the value of silence.
I thought of this again when Vanessa Gebbie tweeted the question, "Writers - do we want or need soundtracks to our e-books."
I do not have any e-books. If I had e-books I would expect them to be silent. I like silence. I can be content with my own thoughts. I do not need an endless stream of radio chatter or music around me.
When I was living in a university hall of residence there were students who would "flip the switch" as soon as they walked into their rooms. This was not the light switch but the switch on their radios. When it became possible to listen to music or the radio on the go they were no doubt among the first to get the devices by which this can be done.
If you go out and about now it is possible to observe people who seem to be permanently attached to their i-pods, MP3 players or whatever the most recent development is. When I travel on the train there is almost always a constant hissing, thumping beat in the background. When I am waiting at traffic lights there will almost always be a car gently shaking to the beat of something which is still called "music". It is just a noise to me. I do not appreciate it.
I have tried. My nephews despair of me - although even they draw the line at much of the most recent "music".
I cannot work against that sort of noise either. I try not to frequent shops which broadcast a radio station or the most recent sounds at a very high decibel level. Even shopping in the local supermarket irritates me because they broadcast a commercial radio station where there are repeated squeals of apparent delight from people who win a CD or a few dollars for tuning in.
Our local independent bookshop also has music in the background. It used to be quiet classical music for the most part. The new owner has different tastes. She plays things that even other customers have mentioned as being "intrusive". Music in a bookshop should surely not intrude on your thoughts?
I suppose our house is different. We do not turn the radio on. We have a small battery operated one for emergency purposes and there is one which is part of the ancient sound system adjacent to the dining area.
There is a collection of records there my mother occasionally listened to but they have scarcely been touched since she died. We are not often in that part of the house. My father and I have some CDs but my father is usually in the garden or the shed. In the evening he prefers to read - with silence in the background.
I do know music. There are things I like very much but I rarely want them to intrude into my listening space.
Even without allowing music to intrude into my listening space I am not sure I am fully aware of the value of silence.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
There is extreme frustration
in this household right now. The washing machine decided to play games this morning. It does this sometimes. It is an intermittent problem and, of course, when the technician looked at it he declared there was nothing wrong.
I am now in the process of re-washing the clothes and hoping to get rid of the soapy scum which did not drain properly the first time. This annoys me. I hate wasting water.
Our water bill is higher than we would like. We use rain water from the tanks where we can but we do not have it connected to the house. Connecting it would only save a very little because the sewerage supply is the major part of the bill and the cost of connecting it would be far greater than we would save.
We live on the usual size Australian suburban block of land. Our water consumption is about that of two people on a much smaller block of land. We are doing something right but mornings like this do not help. They also waste time.
I remember my mother having to fill a copper, light a wood chip fire underneath it and then wash the clothes by hand. When we did get a 32volt household generator my father bought a "spin-dryer". My mother thought this was marvellous. I did too because it had usually been my job to stand there turning the handle of the old wringer. Both my mother and I would be drenching wet with perspiration in summer. The temperature might be over the old century mark outside but the only way to heat the water was in the copper. The spin-dryer did not prevent the need for that but it was much faster at wringing the water from the clothes.
Now though I expect the machine to do it all. It is designed to do it all. You put the clothes and the washing powder in. At the end of it you are supposed to be able to take clean clothes out.
I know I am spoilt by this. I am spoilt by being able to flick a switch and get something called electricity, something I cannot see or hear.
I have bread baking in a bread machine and I used a microwave oven to heat the milk at breakfast time. Right now this computer is working using electricity too. I have an expectation that all these things will work and go on working. I have no right to that expectation.
But, I am still frustrated when they do not work as they should.
I am now in the process of re-washing the clothes and hoping to get rid of the soapy scum which did not drain properly the first time. This annoys me. I hate wasting water.
Our water bill is higher than we would like. We use rain water from the tanks where we can but we do not have it connected to the house. Connecting it would only save a very little because the sewerage supply is the major part of the bill and the cost of connecting it would be far greater than we would save.
We live on the usual size Australian suburban block of land. Our water consumption is about that of two people on a much smaller block of land. We are doing something right but mornings like this do not help. They also waste time.
I remember my mother having to fill a copper, light a wood chip fire underneath it and then wash the clothes by hand. When we did get a 32volt household generator my father bought a "spin-dryer". My mother thought this was marvellous. I did too because it had usually been my job to stand there turning the handle of the old wringer. Both my mother and I would be drenching wet with perspiration in summer. The temperature might be over the old century mark outside but the only way to heat the water was in the copper. The spin-dryer did not prevent the need for that but it was much faster at wringing the water from the clothes.
Now though I expect the machine to do it all. It is designed to do it all. You put the clothes and the washing powder in. At the end of it you are supposed to be able to take clean clothes out.
I know I am spoilt by this. I am spoilt by being able to flick a switch and get something called electricity, something I cannot see or hear.
I have bread baking in a bread machine and I used a microwave oven to heat the milk at breakfast time. Right now this computer is working using electricity too. I have an expectation that all these things will work and go on working. I have no right to that expectation.
But, I am still frustrated when they do not work as they should.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Keeping a promise
is important. My father hates to break a promise to do something. It worries him. I am much the same.
I accept there are times when it becomes impossible, when a situation changes in such a way that it is no longer possible to do something. I can remember promising my youngest nephew that the next time he came we would go to the tiny playground around the corner so he could try the new climbing frame. The next time came and it was pouring with rain. We did not go. He was sensible enough, even at age three, to accept it was not a good idea. We did something else together instead.
But there are other sort of ongoing promises that do need to be kept. Promises that not everyone may not even know about. They may be the most important promises of all.
Yesterday someone I know was selling "badges" in the shopping centre. There is nothing new in that. Charities are so desperate for financial support that there is someone there trying to collect for charity almost every day.
I usually ignore them. It is not that I do not care. I do care and I often feel strongly about the cause for which they are collecting. I am aware however that they are charged a hefty fee by the owner of the shopping centre. Frequently I see the same few people collecting and I know they are paid to collect. I am aware that as little as little as 18c in the dollar may reach the charity and that even less may reach the people it is intended to help.
Yesterday however the collection was for an organisation called "Legacy". Australians will know Legacy. It assists the families of men and women who have been severely injured or died on active duty in the Australian armed forces. Post World War II Legacy had an enormous role to play in helping families cope and care for each other. Since then Australian soldiers have seen active service in other places too. The need to help has never gone away.
Legacy was assisting a child I once taught. When he moved into my class a member of Legacy alerted me and asked me to let him know if there was ever an occasion on which their assistance was needed.
Mark and his mother were fiercely independent. Mark would not accept being on the "free books" scheme. He would "earn" those doing extra jobs around the school.
Toward the end of the year however there was an educational excursion for the entire upper school. It came at a cost. Mark thought he might not be able to go. I contacted the Legacy representative. Knowing how Mark felt about "charity" I asked if he could he find Mark enough work to let him earn the right to go? Not a problem. Mark earned the right to go.
"He said he promised my Dad he would help look after us," Mark told me.
I went to university with another boy who had lost his father in Vietnam. Legacy had seen him through school and was keeping a watchful eye on him through university. Like Mark he would earn the extras he needed by working but Legacy had helped him find work.
"My Mum was left with three of us and Legacy promised they would help. They have helped too. There was always someone I could go to and that meant as much as any money."
Legacy helped to organise a funeral I attended last year. They had assisted the soldier's widow right through her illness because there was no family. She told me, "They promised you know and they have kept that promise." She left what she had to Legacy.
And yesterday I gave something to Legacy because Legacy has kept a promise. It is one occasion on which the owner of the shopping centre will not demand a fee for a collecting point. He will not dare. Legacy still has a job to do - and a promise to keep.
I accept there are times when it becomes impossible, when a situation changes in such a way that it is no longer possible to do something. I can remember promising my youngest nephew that the next time he came we would go to the tiny playground around the corner so he could try the new climbing frame. The next time came and it was pouring with rain. We did not go. He was sensible enough, even at age three, to accept it was not a good idea. We did something else together instead.
But there are other sort of ongoing promises that do need to be kept. Promises that not everyone may not even know about. They may be the most important promises of all.
Yesterday someone I know was selling "badges" in the shopping centre. There is nothing new in that. Charities are so desperate for financial support that there is someone there trying to collect for charity almost every day.
I usually ignore them. It is not that I do not care. I do care and I often feel strongly about the cause for which they are collecting. I am aware however that they are charged a hefty fee by the owner of the shopping centre. Frequently I see the same few people collecting and I know they are paid to collect. I am aware that as little as little as 18c in the dollar may reach the charity and that even less may reach the people it is intended to help.
Yesterday however the collection was for an organisation called "Legacy". Australians will know Legacy. It assists the families of men and women who have been severely injured or died on active duty in the Australian armed forces. Post World War II Legacy had an enormous role to play in helping families cope and care for each other. Since then Australian soldiers have seen active service in other places too. The need to help has never gone away.
Legacy was assisting a child I once taught. When he moved into my class a member of Legacy alerted me and asked me to let him know if there was ever an occasion on which their assistance was needed.
Mark and his mother were fiercely independent. Mark would not accept being on the "free books" scheme. He would "earn" those doing extra jobs around the school.
Toward the end of the year however there was an educational excursion for the entire upper school. It came at a cost. Mark thought he might not be able to go. I contacted the Legacy representative. Knowing how Mark felt about "charity" I asked if he could he find Mark enough work to let him earn the right to go? Not a problem. Mark earned the right to go.
"He said he promised my Dad he would help look after us," Mark told me.
I went to university with another boy who had lost his father in Vietnam. Legacy had seen him through school and was keeping a watchful eye on him through university. Like Mark he would earn the extras he needed by working but Legacy had helped him find work.
"My Mum was left with three of us and Legacy promised they would help. They have helped too. There was always someone I could go to and that meant as much as any money."
Legacy helped to organise a funeral I attended last year. They had assisted the soldier's widow right through her illness because there was no family. She told me, "They promised you know and they have kept that promise." She left what she had to Legacy.
And yesterday I gave something to Legacy because Legacy has kept a promise. It is one occasion on which the owner of the shopping centre will not demand a fee for a collecting point. He will not dare. Legacy still has a job to do - and a promise to keep.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
So the "Malaysian solution" did not
work?
I never believed that the Australian government's plans to send 800 boat arrivals to Malaysia and take in 4000 "genuine refugees" would work as a means of deterring boat arrivals. The High Court has told the government that they cannot do it.
At some point I will read the judgments and find out what their reasoning was. I have no doubt it puts an end to most "off-shore processing" of "asylum claims". This will just further encourage "people smugglers". There is a lot of money to be made in this business.
We did have a drop in boat arrivals at one time. It had nothing to do with the state of internal conflict in some countries, indeed the situation was far worse in some areas than it is now. One of the main reasons for the drop was something called a "temporary protection visa" or TPV. A TPV allows someone to stay in another country until the situation in their own improves to a point where it is deemed (relatively) safe for the person to return home.
There are arguments against these, the chief being that it leaves people in a state of uncertainty and unable to make plans for their future. There is something in that but is that sufficient reason to drop the idea?
I rather like the idea of TPVs. It does not stop asylum being granted to anyone who has a genuine fear of persecution but it does reduce the number of people permanently removing much needed assets and skills from their country of origin. A country like Australia could lose a few doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers etc and still manage. Most people would not even notice they had gone. It is a different story in some troubled areas where there can be one doctor for a vast area and far more potential patients than anyone could hope to handle or where a teacher has a class of well over one hundred (and only boys at that). Losing one doctor and one teacher in those circumstances has a massive impact on the population.
If we make it easy for people with those qualifications to come to Australia then we are doing the troubled country a great disservice. We are not "helping refugees" we are hindering development and inviting an increase in an already massive problem. We are draining countries of the very resources they need in order to try and recover.
I know there is much more to it than that but I look at some of the people I know who go and give a few weeks service every year. They tell me of how great the need is and how some of the most skilled, educated people have simply left the country and sought asylum elsewhere. Of course a number of them fear for their safety and have genuine cause to leave but many others simply want a better life elsewhere. I would want that too.
We could also assist those on TPVs who have no skills to gain skills or others to upgrade their skills so they can use them on their return. The cost would be no more than keeping someone in detention for a number of years and the end result would be a good deal more useful.
I doubt the present government will even consider the idea. It was the idea of a previous government and therefore unacceptable to them. We are in the present mess for the same reason. It is going to go on being a mess and it means that some of those patiently waiting in border camps will go on waiting. They will die there and their grandchildren, even great-grandchildren will be born there. I wish we could accept some of them.
Rant over - but I do care about people risking their lives and others who have been waiting for years.
I never believed that the Australian government's plans to send 800 boat arrivals to Malaysia and take in 4000 "genuine refugees" would work as a means of deterring boat arrivals. The High Court has told the government that they cannot do it.
At some point I will read the judgments and find out what their reasoning was. I have no doubt it puts an end to most "off-shore processing" of "asylum claims". This will just further encourage "people smugglers". There is a lot of money to be made in this business.
We did have a drop in boat arrivals at one time. It had nothing to do with the state of internal conflict in some countries, indeed the situation was far worse in some areas than it is now. One of the main reasons for the drop was something called a "temporary protection visa" or TPV. A TPV allows someone to stay in another country until the situation in their own improves to a point where it is deemed (relatively) safe for the person to return home.
There are arguments against these, the chief being that it leaves people in a state of uncertainty and unable to make plans for their future. There is something in that but is that sufficient reason to drop the idea?
I rather like the idea of TPVs. It does not stop asylum being granted to anyone who has a genuine fear of persecution but it does reduce the number of people permanently removing much needed assets and skills from their country of origin. A country like Australia could lose a few doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers etc and still manage. Most people would not even notice they had gone. It is a different story in some troubled areas where there can be one doctor for a vast area and far more potential patients than anyone could hope to handle or where a teacher has a class of well over one hundred (and only boys at that). Losing one doctor and one teacher in those circumstances has a massive impact on the population.
If we make it easy for people with those qualifications to come to Australia then we are doing the troubled country a great disservice. We are not "helping refugees" we are hindering development and inviting an increase in an already massive problem. We are draining countries of the very resources they need in order to try and recover.
I know there is much more to it than that but I look at some of the people I know who go and give a few weeks service every year. They tell me of how great the need is and how some of the most skilled, educated people have simply left the country and sought asylum elsewhere. Of course a number of them fear for their safety and have genuine cause to leave but many others simply want a better life elsewhere. I would want that too.
We could also assist those on TPVs who have no skills to gain skills or others to upgrade their skills so they can use them on their return. The cost would be no more than keeping someone in detention for a number of years and the end result would be a good deal more useful.
I doubt the present government will even consider the idea. It was the idea of a previous government and therefore unacceptable to them. We are in the present mess for the same reason. It is going to go on being a mess and it means that some of those patiently waiting in border camps will go on waiting. They will die there and their grandchildren, even great-grandchildren will be born there. I wish we could accept some of them.
Rant over - but I do care about people risking their lives and others who have been waiting for years.
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