I’m depressed today.

This week our government is trying to push laws through that force all asylum seekers to be processed off shore and another that forces aborigines to swap title over their land for 99 years in return for basic needs such as housing and health.

I believe that reforming the Land Rights Act is necessary but we need more than a one day senate inquiry and disinformation from governement senators to determine what is the best course of action. This is a blatant and immoral attempt to open up the Northern Territory for the mining of uranium.

The Migration Act changes are simply horrible. “…between 1992 and 2005, Australia was the only country in the world to require the detention of both adults and children seeking asylum for the duration of their processing.” Now we’re going to do it again but this time in other people’s countries. We know the damage done to people kept in detention for years (especially children) and we now know that repatriated refugees are often killed.

But what are Australians worried about? The price of oil. Why is petrol so expensive? Well, apart from the fact that it is a scarce and diminishing resource we are also restricting supply from Iraq by maintaining a pointless and bloody war there. Greg Palast has some interesting points on this here. “The rise in the price of oil after the first three years of the war boosted the value of the reserves of ExxonMobil Oil alone by just over $666 billion. (The devil is in the details.)”

So what do you do if you actually care about the greater good and not just your hip pocket? One excellent idea is to get along to www.getup.org.au and sign their petitions. An even better idea is to ring your coalition senator and express dismay at the new draconian laws.

Fight the fear and get involved – these things only happen because we let them happen.