Ruth Balint

This slim volume highlights previous Australian government views about northern border security. It focuses on the fishers of Rote, in Indonesia, who for centuries have been fishing within what is now Australian territorial waters. While this story is more complex than can be outlined in a book of this size, its a relatively objective statement. Interviews with the fishers are juxtaposed with reports of actions by the Australian government and individual politicans to demonise an impoverished group of people.

Well worth a read, it raises some questions which will probably raise some uncomfortable issues. Written before the change of government at national level in 2007, it shows that if Australia really wants to engage with the part of the world in which we live there needs to be a lot more tolerance and perhaps mutual understanding.… (mais)