Fairfax's own RWDB, Miranda Divine, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald last Thursday, echoing the popular right wing spin on the 'Children Overboard Affair:'
For the previous three days, Howard and his Government had been condemned for claiming asylum seekers on SIEV 4 had thrown a child into the water on October 7 when there was no evidence that was the case.....The fact is that on SIEV 4, 76 children had to be rescued from the water by the navy after their boat was sunk. The distinction between whether children were thrown overboard or dumped in the water after their boat was sabotaged has never resonated with the heartland.
She also ran the popular line seen in various rabid blogs, that reopening the issue could be to the government's advantage.
The Tampa crisis, as it came to be known, was widely regarded as an electoral plus for Howard, showing him to be tough on border protection.If asylum seekers become an issue in the upcoming election, Howard-haters may be disappointed.
Like the rest of them, she seemed to miss the point. Howard lied, and others in the know, for whatever reason, were silent.
In today's Sun Herald, Miranda seems to have had second thoughts. Can't find a link, but I'll type the last bit out anyway.
But it is a great pity the Prime Minister and his former immigration minister Phillip Rudock ever promoted the children overboard furphy in the first place. It was not essential to their aim, which was to stop the flow of illegal boats. But by unnecessarily maligning the asylum seeker parents on board SIEV 4, they delivered the moral high ground to their opponents, who continue to reap the rewards.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
You could have called the article:
It's your right to wave, Miranda!
That would have worked on so many levels...!!