Island with sea views

The Ghost of Christmas Past – A Folly 

There is nothing good coming from illegal boat arrivals in Australia. So whilst the demeaning and silly media discussion displays its pretty feathers, its T shirt compassion, we might use the time better in a discussion of some further tactics which might put a full stop to the problem. 

Firstly, we need a floating wall. Something like a huge NBN cable floating on the ocean ten kilometres beyond our western border. Every arrival would be detected immediately and would be unable to gain entry, beyond the huge floating cable. Secondly, we should sell Christmas Island. Resettle its entire population on the mainland and place the island up for auction to the highest bidder. The refugee camp and township should be mothballed carefully so as to be in good working order for the future owners. Although Indonesia may not prove a suitable owner (though we do still owe them an island) Papua may be able to raise a good price with the help of the United Nations. Hell, the UN itself may consider it time to actually set itself up as a country, perhaps even a democracy – at least as an unaligned piece of geography with a permanent base. Israel could do with a holiday colony in the southern hemisphere and it would be certain to get a good bid from the United States of America. Perhaps Christmas Island would make a good place to bury nuclear waste? 

Without Christmas Island, the journey to our western border, our country and our laws would be two thousand miles further and would require a much more substantial journey and boat to navigate. If the boats were then confronted by a huge NBN cable stacked with modern media including twitter and perhaps producing a strong magnetic field which was impossible to penetrate except through several gates for normal commercial shipping, then we may have a suitable tactic to fully stop all illegal boat arrivals. 

Our borders need to be as strong as our laws and it is at our borders where our laws must be strongest. It is at our centre (isolated aboriginal communities, schools, universities) where they should be weakest. It is there where the freedom we wish to protect lives. A freehold title to Christmas Island should be worth the price of five thousand miles of a huge NBN cable fully outfitted and installed. We should set the island adrift and retreat with passive resistance in order to build a stronger border. This backdoor abuse must cease even whilst we adjust the front door to allow the development of a sustainable population measured against the droughts and the floods. We must measure the population against the water and the infrastructure – the food growth. We should not try to grow faster than we can build and, in Australia, we build slow.