My first reaction to such a question would be to point to the 3 publications I have been responsible for, jointly with Labor for Refugees in the case of the two of them.
These publications are:
- Firstly, Challenges facing Israel at 60, a booklet which I wrote in 2008 after going to Israel in 2007 for my niece Ilana’s wedding. During the trip I visited a number of grantees of the New Israel Fund, an organisation to which the family has been a contributor.
- Secondly, Alternatives to Offshore Processing, a book published in 2013 jointly with Labor for Refugees, and
- Thirdly, The Drownings’ Argument, published in 2014 also jointly with Labor for Refugees.
The first of these publications, Challenges facing Israel at 60, has a foreword written by Barry Jones. The second, Alternatives to Offshore Processing, has a foreword written by Malcolm Fraser who also sent me a letter of congratulations on its publication.
And for the third, The Drownings’ Argument, I received a letter of appreciation from Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Before I go any further I should acknowledge that a very good friend of mine told me after my 70th birthday celebration that there was too much politics. Now the word ‘politics’ can have different meanings. It can refer to grubby back yard deals aimed at getting certain people elected to parliament. Or it can refer to the struggle to achieve basic rights for everyone, including especially the least privileged members of society.
The rights which I as a member of Labor for Refugees have been struggling for are often termed human rights. And if the struggle for human rights is political, then yes I am engaged in the discussion of politics.
Now friends, imagine that you came to this celebration and there was food, drink, a band, singing and dancing, but no speech about politics or human rights. You might say what a great party! But there would be one problem. It would not be a party hosted by Robin Rothfield!
Given my family background, it would be difficult to imagine me being a non-political person. My father joined the Labor Party in 1941 and was a member until he passed away in 2010 and my mother was a member for most of this time. And my father had me letter-boxing for Labor in the 1946 federal election when I was 10 years of age. And Norman and Evelyn were both active in the Jewish community.
But their political activity started in the UK as members of the Hampstead Constituency Labour Party in the 1930s and at one time my mother was Secretary. Norman was fond of telling the story that before he proposed to Evelyn he asked her if she was a Socialist. Many of you will be aware of Norman’s political activism but not so many will have heard of Evelyn’s. In the Hampstead Constituency Labour Party there were, as in normal Labour Party politics, two factions, the Left and the Right. Evelyn’s younger brother Edmund usually voted with the Left as did Evelyn. But Edmund had a mind of his own and on one memorable occasion Edmund voted with the Right. Evelyn was furious and as they were leaving the meeting she laid down the law to Edmund with the following instruction: “When you see my hand go up, you raise your hand also!” This was probably the start of Edmund’s move to the right and he went on in later years to become the Secretary of State for Trade in the government of Harold Wilson.
So friends with that background I hope you will understand why politics is part of my DNA. But in recognition of the concerns expressed by my dear friend after my speech made 10 years ago, I have decided this time not to invite any other speaker apart from my brother David who has opened the proceedings.
As most of you will be aware, my main activity is working as a member of Labor for Refugees to bring about a more humane refugee policy within the Labor Party. And I will now advance 4 reasons why I believe that all of us here need to think about helping to bring about substantial change in Australia’s attitude towards refugees:
- We are very privileged. Firstly we are privileged to live in Australia. Secondly we are privileged, within the privileged because we live in metropolitan areas which have good access to infrastructure such as education, health and transport facilities. And thirdly we are privileged within the privileged, within the privileged because we all have beds to go to tonight and we know where our next meal is coming from.
- Secondly, as Edmund Burke, prominent statesman of the 18th century said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
- Thirdly, and this applies particularly to those of us who are Jewish, we remember the injunction which appears 36 times in the Torah: Do not oppress the stranger, for you yourselves were strangers in the Land of Egypt. Now there are some who say, we cannot let in more refugees because most of them are Moslems. To those who think like that let us remember the Evian Conference in 1938, called to discuss the issue of increasing numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, Australia’s Minister for Trade and Custom, Thomas White, said: “It will no doubt be appreciated also that as we have no real racial problem we are not desirous of importing one by encouraging any scheme of large-scale foreign migration.” Now the response I have received when relaying this piece of pre-war history is that Jews unlike Moslems are not terrorists. Well friends, so Jews unlike Moslems are incapable of becoming terrorists according to this assertion. Well let’s look into this claim more closely. People resort to terror when they are desperate and when they feel they have no choice. A small number of Moslems have resorted to terror but so have a small number of Jews when the circumstances creating terror have been present. Consider Palestine under the British mandate in 1946 when members of the far right group Irgun Zvai Leumi felt desperate at the behaviour of the British Mandatory authorities of Palestine and so bombed the King David Hotel killing 91 people. There have been several other acts of Jewish terrorism in the years since but I don’t think I need to detail them here.
- Finally, I would argue that it is in the interests of self-preservation to keep in touch with and discuss what is going on in the country we live in and the world around us. At a time in Germany when it was still possible to leave, many Jews failed to take the opportunity available to them. There is the classical case of the woman who said: “ I can’t leave Germany. I have tickets for the Burger Theatre on Saturday.”
But some will argue that political action is pointless because we can’t change anything.
So I will give just three examples of where political action has led to major reforms:
Firstly, the abolition of slavery. The anti-slavery movement began in 1783 and in 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act passed through the UK parliament, the effect of which was to abolish slavery in the British Empire.
Secondly the end of apartheid in South Africa. The anti-apartheid movement began in London in 1959 as a consumer boycott movement followed in 1961 by South Africa’s expulsion from the Commonwealth and in 1970 by South Africa’s expulsion from the Olympics. Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first black president.
And thirdly the right of women to vote which has been a critical part of the struggle for the rights of women generally. Some of you may have seen the film SUFFRAGETTE which shows the struggle for the right to vote in the 1900s leading to women having the right to vote in the UK in 1928. Interestingly, women in Australia got this right much earlier.
Emily
Emily G is a nurse at the Alfred Hospital and last February she was house-sitting in the unit below and came upstairs to cook. I was watching the news but her focus was on the stove. But then suddenly on the news there was talk of the babies from Nauru. Emily left the stove to come and watch. We got talking and one thing led to another and I ended up handing over to her the 2 books on refugee policy for her to read at her leisure.
Next day when I went for a swim I saw Emily lying on the banana lounge. And she was reading this book, The Drownings’ Argument. I found that very gratifying.
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