Like I said, they are making us all look bad!

Found this in The Age this morning:

World takes cynical view of Africa ban

WHEN race raises its head just before an election in Australia, the international media pays attention.

News that the Federal Government has frozen the intake of African refugees has gone around the world — and despite government denials that the decision is based on race, that's how the international media is reporting it.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' justification of the freeze, on the grounds that Sudanese refugees where having problems integrating into Australian society, was reported by major international news agencies, including Reuters and the French agency, AFP.

Their reports were reproduced in newspapers and on websites in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Link: The Age: World takes cynical view of Africa ban

I was just reading the other day that is expected that Nicole Kidman's new movie Australia will bring tourists back to Australia that hasn't been seen since the Croc Dundee movies. Now I can see this boost in tourism dropping right off, especially if Howard manages to pull off an election win.

The area I live in? Relies on tourism. Right now, I am only getting 12 hours work a week, I am expecting that work to pick right up in the coming months (as is everyone else) because the tourist season is upon us.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this area in the past year has dealt with bad bushfires, and terrible floods (what we call the 10 year flood.) Last Christmas, there wasn't any real tourist around, because that was when the fires were around. This past Easter, we had no tourists again, because no one could get through with the floods. I just hope this tourist season, we don't see a drop in those tourist from all over the world because of what the Howard government has been saying. This area is already stuggling.