And it begins again!

And so it began again, the hoopla of Federal politics. We are now about to start the second week of the new parliamentary sitting session after the winter break and for some people last week went too quickly and for others it was just another show of (sometimes) bad politics at work. Last Monday Angus Houston and his team of expert panel members released their 22 recommendations to help deal with the Asylum Seeker deadlock which was the main talking point 6 weeks ago, and from that we now have legislation which combines offshore processing in Nauru and Manus Island. After the release of the recommendations, which basically told the government that right now Malaysia is not an option, but it might become one in the future the only plus for the Government came when the Coalitions 'stop the boats; policy received the same fate. However the recommendations also called for an immediate stop of family visas for Asylum Seekers families and more reviews into what is being done already. Now having just completed a major assignment on the Asylum Seeker issue I just find it unbelievable that it has taken so long for the Government and the Parliament to come to some sort of agreement, however I also can imagine that many parties involved did not get the outcome they so desired, especially The Greens, who did and still believe that the path the Parliament should have taken involved onshore processing.  With their only consolation being an increase in the Humanitarian Aid Program, to 20,000 places. However as a result of the lack of support towards The Greens policy, (especially from the Government)  and the fact they did not ‘get what they wanted’ so to speak, may result in the Government finding it harder to pass legislation in the future due to their reliance on The Greens in the Senate, but guess what? That means we might have to watch Canberra even more closely. . One of my favourite past times!