John Howard has once again engaged in dog-whistle politics, raising the spectre of immigrants with HIV pouring over the borders to infect Australians with AIDS. Naturally, he says, they should be barred from entry.
Leaving aside the matter of how a person may have been infected with HIV (unprotected sex, needle sharing, blood transfusion) and the fact that there are already tight restrictions on people with HIV entering the country, Howard's stance not only ignores the fact that for Australians to be infected by such an immigrant they would basically have to have unprotected sex or share a needle with them. The likelihood of such an event is small.
As for the frothy-mouthed anti-immigrant outpourings about the 'burden' on our health system, who else are we to ban from immigrating to Australia in anticipation of their medical costs? Smokers? The elderly? Overweight people? People who drink alcohol regularly? Amputees?
John Howard's stance also stigmatises people in the Australian community living with HIV and AIDS. As if they needed any more negative attention.
UPDATE: Mikey points out that John Howard has pinched this one from Pauline Hanson's Mein Kampf.
1 comment:
Brilliant piece!
Im actually surprised that Howard has not already banned smokers, the elderly, overweight, alcoholics, drug attics and amputees from Australia.
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