Towards Rock Bottom

The refugee issue has long been tagged a hoodoo for the Labor Party. That’s pretty much correct. It’s a wedge issue, and a particularly sensitive one as well. It neatly bisects the educated left wing voters and the traditional Labor base of the blue-collar working-to-lower-middle class. This situation is made particularly difficult because the issue generally splits the MPs themselves from their constituents in the traditional base. So it’s a divisive issue, and Labor is still spooked by it. The Liberals know this, so they bring it up a lot.

This has gone on for so long that it is becoming a problem for the Liberals as well. When it comes to parsing comment on refugee issues, the Libs have become caricatures of themselves. Every Liberal MP who has taken a stint as Immigration Spokesperson, whether in government or in opposition has instantly become an arse. Off the leash, and desperate to keep the issue alive, they will take any opportunity to make Labor talk about it. Even if this includes the sort of deplorable comments usually reserved for boozy BNP Christmas lunches and NRL season launches.

The more Labor has felt the need to compromise itself and its principles on the issue, the more the Liberals have moved to the edge, desperate to maintain an unattainable air of unreasonable bastardry. Scott Morrison’s reprehensible politicisation of the funerals of asylum seekers killed in December’s Christmas Island boat tragedy is a prime example. His mean spirited bitching about close relatives being flown in at government expense to attend these funerals, including those of two children aged 3 months and 8 months, is the latest low for a party blinded by a policy to be ‘tough’ on asylum seekers. ‘Tough’ should never equal ‘cruel’, but the Liberals are way past thinking logically.

Joe Hockey has spoken out, calling for the party to retain its humanity, it’s astonishing it has taken this long. Humanity is something that has been missing from the Liberals on this issue for ten years, but unfortunately it will take more than the calls of a moderate leadership aspirant to soften the majority of the Liberal caucus who are desperate to ‘keep’ an issue with which they have so much traction. At least Hockey finally has taken a stand on something, and shown that he is more than an empty suit.

Nothing will change until they hit rock bottom, and finally cop a backlash from the public for the shit they’ve been spouting. You’d think Morrison’s latest escapade would do it, but you’d be wrong.