John Howard has, at last, stated that the government won't let filthy lucre prevent us from decently treating the Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin as he seeks political asylum.
Mr Howard says Mr Chen's case will be assessed on its merits."It's not going to be influenced by the amount of iron ore or coal we sell to China," Mr Howard said.
"It will not be influenced by trade and economic considerations.
"I've heard a lot of nonsense talk over the past little while about this."
Is it any wonder that there was "a lot of nonsense talk" over this issue? The government seemed to be in a state of paralysis when the story broke. This observer certainly thought that the authorities were more concerned over the Chinese government's reaction than Mr Chen's wellbeing. They did, after all, phone the Chinese embassy when he made his original application.
One would be forgiven in thinking that the Liberal party had their pollster do a quick survey to confirm that the electorate really does not think it would be nice to send him back, prompting public assurances by Tony Abbott that this won't happen ...
Mr Chen is in Australia. He is being dealt with in accordance with the ordinary processes of Australian immigration law and he is at no risk of being sent back to China.
If only it was so easy for kids in detention.
Chen first applied for asylum 13 days ago on 26 May. Today's assurance came five days after the issue became public. Makes you wonder what would have happened to Chen if the issue had remained secret.
Lol - 'a lot of nonsense talk,' - that should be easy for Howard to identify.