What Australian papers are saying today, Wednesday, Aug 30, 2000

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2000
What Australian papers are saying today, Wednesday, Aug 30, 2000

SYDNEY, Aug 30 AAP - The reflex action of condemning the Woomera asylum-seekers and
tightening security is useless without understanding how the system fuelled the uprising,
says The Australian in its editorial today.

Do their actions on Monday reflect criminal intent or the desperation of people scared
for their future after being told they could not stay in Australia? Could be it out of
frustration after months of being locked up in a remote and inhospitable place?

Strategies for managing illegal migrants are clearly not working. The core problem
is not how to contain or subdue them, says The Australian, but how to deal with their
individual claims with greater fairness, speed and understanding.

The Canberra Times says it is only common sense for a society which truly desires to
avoid violence to ensure that it does not unwittingly create the conditions where violence
can flourish.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock insists there is no alternative to the migrant
detention centres. But what's more important: treating asylum-seekers with a dignity human
beings deserve, or `sending a message' that Australia is tough on illegals, especially
when the message seems to fall on deaf - or desperate - ears?

The Sydney Morning Herald says the riot by some asylum-seekers at Woomera has greatly
damaged public sympathy for their position.

"Whatever public misgivings there may be about the way in which illegal immigrants
are detained in such remote facilities, there has never been a loss of public confidence
in the overall fairness of decisions ultimately reached in relation to applications for
political asylum or refugee status."

Canberra must deliver an unequivocal message to illegal immigrants that the violence
at Woomera must not be rewarded, the Herald Sun says.

"It is outrageous and unacceptable that police and Australian Protective Services officers
were attacked and many injured trying to stop a stone-throwing mob burning down the facility.

"The Federal Government must take advantage of Labor's offer to back legislation enabling
the deportation of the rioters. The sooner the better," the Herald Sun says.

It is foolish of New South Wales Opposition leader Kerry Chikarovski to support a motion

by Upper House Greens member Lee Rhiannon to examine the impact of the Sydney Games,
says The Daily Telegraph.

A select committee is this case would waste taxpayers funds as it would reveal nothing
more than the final SOCOG report on the Games and what the normal independent audit would
disclose.

On the anniversary of the East Timorese vote for independence, the Courier-Mail says
one of the enormous tasks facing the UN transitional administration is to help the country
create a viable economy.

Although the country is likely to need international aid for many years, the biggest
wealth creator is likely to be the development of offshore oil and gas in areas controlled
by Australia and Indonesia.

"It may well be that Australia's lasting and most important legacy is the treaty it
negotiates about who will control and benefit from joint offshore resources," the Courier-Mail
says.

The Australian Financial Review says East Timor resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's
threat to pursue pro-Indonesian militia into Indonesian territory has added a new element
of uncertainty into his efforts to rebuild relations with neighbours.

It will only give recalcitrant elements in the Indonesian army an excuse to support the militias.

Also, the paper says it is important that the emerging East Timorese leadership not
allow a cargo cult mentality to develop over the Timor Gap oil wealth; developing a diverse
economy would be a greater benefit.

Still, "Australia should adopt a generous approach to the oil field negotiations because
conceding oil revenue is preferable to East Timor depending on Australia for aid."

The Australian intervention in East Timor, after the independence vote a year ago disintegrated
into anarchy, expunged a national shame, says the Age.

"Australia's commitment to peacekeeping and to helping this tiny nation rebuild ended
25 years of official evasiveness on Indonesian atrocities in East Timor."

"The people of East Timor must not be deserted again, difficult though it will be both
to maintain this new relationship and to attempt the necessary task of repairing the broken
friendship with Indonesia," the Age says.

The cynical view of Prime Minister John Howard's stubborn refusal to soften on petrol
prices is that he is filling a war chest ahead of an election, says The Adelaide Advertiser.

"Even if this coarse view is right, the politics are wrong and the government is awful,"

the Advertiser says.

"Every motorist knows that the biggest rake-off at the bowser is the government rip-off.

Any politician who forgets that does so at his own peril."

AAP rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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