One of the correspondents to John Dickson’s article quoted (NSW Premier) Mike Baird ‘” Sometimes you can know all the facts and statistics surrounding an unfolding tragedy, but it somehow remains an intangible or external problem. A problem that is almost too hard to get your head around.’
I see that as the real problem for me. I don’t like detention centres at all. But what is the alternative? Especially in the light of those who are involved who have a political axe to grind and make it hard for governments to properly deal with refugees. And opportunist people smugglers.
What actually is the better answer? I wish I knew.
There are more examples of similar conundrums. For instance, I think prison sentences are often a mistake. But what is the alternative to the prison system that works? I have thought about this for years and have never come up with a workable answer.
I think the same thing is happening with regard to refugees. What is the answer? To encourage more and more to come? Do refugees have a role to play in rebuilding their home countries when the wars are over? What effect does large numbers of refugees entering a different country have on that country? What is the effect of the religio/ cultural/ political background have on the stability of the host nation? Would it have been better for Western powers to establish safe havens for refugees near they came from so that they can go home to rebuild after the troubles are over?
Someone once said that if you think you understand the problems of the Middle East you haven’t been paying attention. So it is with the whole mass migration movement that is happening right now.
It is not unchristian to seek workable answers to these things. It is not unchristian to care enough to say that mass migration is not a good idea and there must be better solutions. I know what it is to have refugees at my dinner table and see the pain in their eyes. They are very welcome. But if a hundred refugees would just arrive on my doorstep demanding to be let in I would not be able to cater for them. This is the problem Europe faced a year ago and we are starting to see the problems associated with that.
So what is the solution? In a sense we must look past the situation on Nauru, take a much bigger view and look for workable solutions. They won’t be simple solutions. Nothing in human affairs ever is, and this one is more complex than most.
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