Letter to the Editor: They are our children and deserve our care

DEAR News Of The Area,

WHAT is the value of Australian citizenship?

After the disgraceful performance of Labor, the COALition and One Notion this week I am seriously starting to wonder.

There are 34 Australian citizens stuck in a squalid refugee camp in Syria made up of 11 women and 23 of their children.

Their plight has been a political football for years now since the collapse of ISIS.

The new Syrian government is wanting foreign governments to repatriate their citizens as it tries to recover from more than a decade of civil war.

This, and the previous, government expects other countries to accept their nationals when we choose to deport them.

It is hypocritical to not accept our own nationals when Syria seeks to do the same.

Whatever one might think of these women and their life choices, bear in mind that a lot of these choices were made by male relatives on their behalf.

Most, if not all, of these men are now dead.

One of these mothers was a child when she was taken to Syria.

Then there are the 23 Australian children who certainly did not “make their bed”.

They are innocent and vulnerable children.

It is not enough to describe them as “unfortunate”.

They are our children and deserve our care.

All of these Australians should be returned home to their families as soon as possible, as is their right.

If the adults have committed crimes then, yes, charge them, try them, and punish them accordingly.

They have all agreed to this stipulation.

But there is no excuse for leaving the children in such terrible circumstances.

Once again the rights of children are being abused in a sordid political game of who can be the toughest cop on the beat.

Again we are being failed by our current crop of political leaders.

Is it really too much to expect any of them to show some moral backbone?

To call out the racist dog whistling and appeal to our better natures rather than our worst fears?

To quote James Baldwin, “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognising this may be incapable of morality.”

Regards,
Peter SOBEY,
Mid North Coast.