The Empire strikes back! Well, Nauru anyway. Sick of being bullied by national broadcasters with budgets several times the size of its Gross Domestic Product, the President of Naura, the wonderfully named Baron Waqa, directs a polite, but determined, two fingered salute in the direction of the ABC, The Age, the Guardian, the refugee council, Julian Burnside QC AO etc etc, the signboard at the front of the Gosford Anglican Church, the Australian Greens, and other assorted refugee “advocates” and “activists” who have pilloried the island nation over the treatment of the asylum seekers it hosts on behalf of terra Australis.
As Baron Waqa objects – our asylum seekers are seen swimming at leisure, dining out, and having a generally good time whilst sampling the, admittedly few, attractions the island has to offer the discerning refugee. Most of all, the good Baron would like the Australian critics of Naura – read here the cultural elitists of the political left – to drop the smug air of superiority adopted when it comes to lecturing our island neighbour.
Here at XYZ we’re loathe to fling around accusations of racism and bigotry, but it does seem the Baron has a point, and that, by its own standards, some of the self righteous media types in this country might well find themselves in the shoes of the accused should they want to play the dangerous game of stacking shit on the Republic of Naura, an island that can take plenty of it since it consists, in fact, largely of bird shit.
