The nastiness of the debate over asylum seekers is a national disgrace and an international embarrassment. It is hard to find a time in the modern era when the level of discourse has been so wretched, irrational and selfish. That both major parties contrive in some way to pay lip service to policies that are both draconian and an affront to Australia's international obligations is appalling. Voices of dissent are generally mute, because the backlash against a politician not seeming to be tough on "people smugglers" (which is essentially a way of re-positioning the actual debate about displaced people) is real and intimidatory.

And at the head of it all is a hired thug in the Prime Minister, a man so unfit to lead a nation that others must wonder at the seeming lack of talent available to fill the job. If I could apply somewhere else for citizenship I would give it a serious thought.