Pro-war, pro-coal spinmeister Kevin Rudd has done at least one useful thing in his appalling two years as PM – he has introduced the term “scum” into the language of public debate. Rudd has described “people smugglers” as “the scum of the Earth ... the vilest form of human life ... the lowest form of human life”. If those helping several thousand desperate refugees find haven in Australia are “scum”, how then do you describe the genocidal racist Zionists, pro-Zionists, warmongers, war criminals and the war-makers of the US alliance (including Australia) who created the estimated 18-20 million Muslim refugees in the first place?

There are 7 million Palestinian refugees (Australia supports apartheid Israel and makes financial support for Palestinian genocide tax deductible), 5-6 million Iraqi genocide refugees (there are still Australian troops in occupied Iraq) , and 3-4 million Afghan genocide refugees plus a further 2.5 million Pashtun refugees from North-West Pakistan (Labor increased our troops in occupied Afghanistan). In addition, Australia continues to support the ongoing Tamil genocide (Tamil activists here are declared to be “terrorists” while hundreds of thousands of Tamils are confined to concentration camps in Sri Lanka) – what then for climate refugees from Australia-led climate genocide?

Dr Gideon Polya
Macleod, Victoria