On the Latest News of Afghani Support Workers
The email updates on the situation of Afghani support workers and their families are becoming more urgent Appeals to the Federal government on this issue as so many others fall on deaf ears. I'm overwhelmed by the enormity of the moral abrogations But this one is not leaving me alone Perhaps because today I am liaising with my daughter in lockdown to order a 'click and collect' item The contrast between the details of the most recent Taliban retribution and my privileged life in the long 'lucky' country Is hard to assimilate The report hits my inbox - and my sensibilities - like a stone As the Federal government ministers who could act to evacuate the workers who supported us are themselves stone-like and as implacable. The details of the retribution of the Taliban against Afghanis who assisted us are too distressing to record But they have registered As an Afghani witness testifies to the actions of 'cruel' Australian soldiers The most decorated of whom is now engaged in a different fight - The fight for his reputation. The claim is that 'a big soldier' kicked a handcuffed man into a creek bed 'A big soldier' But when did the moral compass of the Federal government who could evacuate the Afghani support workers become so small? The travesty of the bugging of meetings with the East Timorese government - and the prosecution of the intelligence officer and his lawyer who drew attention to it - Were shameful portents of things to come. And they keep on coming They are unremitting (how many petitions to those who purport to represent us does it take?) But this one can't wait. The Afghani support workers need to be evacuated NOW. The war in their country has been lost despite the long deployment of Australian troops. Must all sense of moral responsibility to those who assisted us in that effort be lost as well?
31 July 2021