It's a rare day, the first two news items I read this morning made me happy. (If you haven't heard of these people Google will have a ton of detail.)
Reality Winner has been released from prison in the US to a halfway house. It was Winner who first provided actual evidence that Russia had interferred in the 2016 US election. She was scooped up under the espionage laws, with none of the normal protections afforded US citizens and she was jailed for five years. It was hoped Biden would pardon her when he was elected but he didn't. It seems she has begun the discharge process because of time off for good behaviour.
The Biloela family. This family were scooped up in the dead of night from the town of Biloela in Queensland where they had made a life. The parents, originally boat people, had met, married, and had two daughters in Australia. They have been held in detention on Christmas Island for some three years, most of the youngest daughter's life. She recently caught pneumonia which was untreated for some ten days until she developed life threatening sepsis at which point she was rushed to Perth hospital with her mother. Her fourth birthday was Saturday. Armed guards and no visitors allowed, not the happiest birthday for a little kid. Australian TV personalities and such filmed a song for her birthday.
The story about this family has been major news, it has made our local news, the Washington Post ran a full page story last week. It seems the Australian government feel that unless this family is treated harshly the country will be flooded by boat people. The boat people threat is not what it was. Even members of the government have begun pressuring the minister to release the family. The Australian Medical Association says that the famiily should not go back to Christmas Island, other notable people have been supporting their release.
Today the father and the older daughter have been flown to Perth and the family is to live in community detention. This could still go badly wrong, if the family were permitted to return to Biloela, which the townspeople want, this whole drama would be shown to be unnecessary. The PM wouldn't like that.
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...CMP=GTAU_email
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