A FAIR DINKUM DEAL, MATE

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr earlier this week gave the Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister the assurance that Sri Lanka will be given all the necessary assistance to successfully stage the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Colombo in 2013.

Carr put a full-stop to the idea that there is much carping about the summit venue among key Commonwealth member nations. But behind Carr's unequivocal statement of support for Sri Lanka with regard to holding the summit, is a more edifying tale of mutual respect, and of coming to terms with reality.

It is when countries are stung by the realities that hit closer home that their political establishments wake up and take stock. This is what has happened in Australia.

When there was an unprecedented influx of boat people from Sri Lanka, the Australian authorities had to face the raucous din of domestic opinion against what was seen as an abuse of Australian humanitrianism that welcomed refugees, and those who sought political asylum. This attitude rocked the Canberra foreign policy establishment.

The liberals in government however were conditioned to mouth the same mantra of human rights or the supposed lack of it in Sri Lanka, and for a while this is the story that was sold to the Australian public.

But when the former commander of the Sri Lankan Navy started saying that the only way that Australians could stop the boat people problem was to help the Sri Lankan government turn the boats back at the point of origin, there were simultaneous editorial comments in Sri Lankan newspapers also that would have made the 'liberal' Australian establishment sit up and give ear.

Soon, the contours of the issue were beginning to be visible in deep silhouette. Most of the Sri Lankans jumping the boat-wagon as it were, to embark for Australia, were economic thrill seekers i.e.; those who were seeking a better life and Australian dollar salaries in a relatively developed country which had vast natural resources to exploit.

They were certainly not being politically persecuted or sought by roving paramilitaries to be stealthily 'disappeared.' This was borne out by the simple fact that most that ended up in the camps set up offshore by the Australian government were found to be those belonging to the majority Sinhala community, from the southern provinces of the country!

Australian and local newspaper coverage of the stories of slick operators offering boat rides to these bounty seekers blew the lid on the entire Tamil diaspora fuelled theory of 'prosecution' and 'persecution.'

With domestic pressure mounting to stem the tide of illegals who were trying to qualify for jobs etc., in a competitive domestic job market, the Australian authorities soon had an epiphany of a joust with rude reality.

After a series of quick inter-governmental exchanges of ideas, the Australians this week came to a landmark agreement to stop boat people at the point of origin with a concerted campaign to help the Sri Lankan Navy to stem the tide of boats, and also publicize the fact that there was no gullible Australian government's welcome anymore for Sri Lankan asylum seekers.

It's an object lesson. When reality hits home, the bleeding heart foreign policy mandarins of governments tend to see facts as they are, and consider the possibility that countries such as ours have nothing to gain by peddling a spurious line that it is the economic thrill seekers and not genuine asylum seekers that get on boats, because they are being misled by mercenary minded ghouls. This was no 'line', it was the truth.

There is a silver lining to this entire story. As a result of this realization that it is mutually beneficial to work together to solve this menace of bounty hunters in asylum seekers garb, there is such great rapprochement between the Australian and Sri Lankan governments that the Aussies realize which side is telling the truth, and which side is being needlessly maligned in world forums.

Hence, the unequivocal Australian promise to work together with the Sri Lankan government on the Commonwealth heads of government summit -- much to the chagrin of the Tiger rump and the Sri Lanka baiters in the international community, who would have by now got a fair dinkum dose of reality in the new realization that it is difficult to keep a good country down ...