The other is why the family concerned, which consists of 13 surviving members, has never had a full-time breadwinner under the same roof -- although the father did find the money to acquire and sustain a very serious drug habit and do some gun collecting as well. As a little extra inducement to wonder how the world works these days, the article mentions in passing that the clan will soon be leaving the current Housing Commission digs for larger premises better suited to their ever-swelling numbers. This also will be paid for by the public purse.
Members of Hosayn's family lease small farms on the outskirts of Sydney to grow produce and work in the fruit and vegetable trade. Hosayn would sometimes work at his brother's fruit shop in Liverpool and on weekends he ran a small fruit stall at Flemington Markets. But mostly he and his family survived on social security benefits.Oh, and one other thing: Despite decades in Australia, mum and dad still required a translator to speak with the The Australian's Greg Bearup.
The toddler's disappearance is all very interesting and makes for a compelling whodunnit, but Australia's immigration policies and what their architects think they are achieving represents an equally fascinating topic for inquiry. After the next election perhaps we can all consider it.
A strange business indeed, but at least the coroner is not blaming Bunyips!
ReplyDeleteAnd most (if not all) of the 13 offspring will each import an ill educated, non-English speaking cousin spouse from a village in Lebanon.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a lot of people will have the same response to that picture, Prof. Adding to the family without having the means to keep them seems an awful lot like 'baby farming' of some sort of another. Unfair perhaps, as the kids do seem loved and wanted, but 'the village' they come from is another country, and they do things differently there. And here too, it seems.
ReplyDeleteA certain amount of discouragement could be useful, as you note.
Gillard/Hanson-Young/ battlers?
ReplyDeletePS: are cliterectomies on little girls covered by medicare these days?
"After the next election perhaps we can all consider it."
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope. However I doubt it. Discussing the culture of immigrants is considered taboo by both major political parties.
To my mind, an immigration policy should be beneficial to both the immigrant and the country that takes them in. However the first duty of a government is to its people.
Both sides brag about their non discriminatory immigration policy as repudiation to the White Australia Policy. But there are other ways to discriminate besides race. I believe discriminating against Islamic immigration is in Australia's interest.
"Discussing the culture of immigrants is considered taboo by both major political parties."
DeleteSo true. Any intellectual discussion or suggestion that certain racial/ethnic/religious/national groups display certain attributes that are not conducive to Australia's national interest are immediately decried as racist (or similar).
So effectively have the multi-culturalists hamstrung debate that no political party has a rational immigration policy.
But at least with all that non integration we will see interpreting jobs for younguns who can speak other gutteral languages aside from strine. Also the pere de famille seems to have been involved in his own smoking ceremonies, so that will keep the Greens on side.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not, and we take a dim view of those things down at college house. However for a fee it appears that a consenting adult can get just about anything they want that they've seen airbrushed on the internet and thus take as normal. It's a netherworld in the nether regions..
ReplyDeleteGood writing I think sometimes means saying things that are entirely obvious; because not everyone's obvious is the same. Remember some of Orwell's pigs were just that little bit more 'equal' than others.
ReplyDeleteProf. - I lived the best part of one Year in Saudi Arabia. The deserts can be beautiful. I trod some of Lawrence's turf. Little train stop called Tabuk.
Here goes then: The Judeo-Christian work ethic is a feature of Judaism and Christianity.
Tautological you might say. But then why did I need to say it? Because not everyone's obvious is the same. Things you grew up taking entirely for granted really, really aren't.
To some, I suspect, Australia's social non security system isn't too different from the Dhimma infidels should pay, and pay, and pay.
There was an article in the Age and SMH on Thursday morning which presented the heartrending case of some African migrants with 7 or so children, one of them new, suffering terribly due to their small accommodation and inability to find a publicly-funded 4-bedroom home. It was presented as a "special investigation". Oh my Lord. How 'journalists' can suffer such a lack of curiosity baffles me.
ReplyDelete-They complained several times in the article that their lack of a garden had given them Vitamin D deficiency. The reporter didn't mention the fact that the adults and older children were covered in heavy materials all over, except between their eyes and mouth.
-At no point did the reporter see fit to mention whether anyone in the family might actually have left the house and produced some kind of income
-She did mention the fact of the large number of children still being produced while the penniless family can't fit into their current house. However this was portrayed as some sort of almost unchangeable cultural norm, as though Africans aren't intelligent enough to make their own decisions regarding relative importance of having children vs. having living space
Holy cow. I was working as a junior doctor for years and couldn't afford a four-bedroom home either. It never occurred to me someone else would get me one.
My grandparents came here as refugees as well, boarded in the house of an elderly, very ill woman and washed and spoon-fed her in lieu of paying rent. I can deal with my massive tax bill, reluctantly, but I could cry thinking of the guys mopping floors or working night shift on security at my hospital and funding migrants who think the world owes them a living.
Well said, especially your final paragraph.
DeleteThe quality of journalists in this country has been falling faster than the quality of its teachers and politicians.
DeletePedro of Adelaide
Excellent piece. You can be sure the families mentioned know their way to Centrelink and Medicare.II find it abhorent many can keep producing children ,never work and expect to be given a bigger house every couple of years when the family increases.
DeleteWhat the hell have we been doing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188075/Jobless-mother-seven-insists-family-deserve-1-25MILLION-taxpayer-funded-home-trashed.html they have this expectation in every country they migrate to ;they are just a spongers, economic migrants & welfare seekers. my sympathy for them died long time ago. we , as a nation should look after own needy people.why the taxes payed by my hard working husband/ 2 jobs, 6-7 days a week/, by my young ,working / from as early as they were allowed to work/ children support those welfare seekers? ENOUGH
DeleteMorons!
ReplyDeleteWhere do nice ethnic retaurants come from?
Look at the big picture!!!
Even look at the slightly bigger picture,perhaps have a look at the NSW Food Authority's list of Food Safety Offences where you will find that "nice ethnic restaurants" punch way above their weight.In fact if it wasn't for all these "nice ethnic restaurants" the Food authority would probably have to lay off staff.
DeleteI think that was a joke
DeleteEthnic restaurants in Australia are generally awful unless run by professional chefs, be they Indian, (often) local Australians, or whatever else. It's only know that people have worked out that the Indian, Chinese, Thai and especially Italian foods etc served locally are rubbish compared to what people actually eat in those countries.
Important not to destroy the full context of the story, don’t you agree Prof? Hence here is the next part of the quotation to which you refer...
ReplyDeleteBut mostly he and his family survived on social security benefits. This caused a major rift with his father, Mostafa - a village elder living in Iaal who believed it was wrong for his son to collect money from the government. Mostafa was also concerned that "criminals" were hanging around his son's house and were a bad influence on his grandchildren. Police say Mostafa had cut off all contact with Hosayn, an act that would have brought great shame in Lebanese culture.
....not quite sure of you point though Professor. The wife can’t speak English and that is a terrible shame. However her children do and as you point out there are a lot of them. Reminiscent of Carlton (Victoria, Australia) ) in the 60s and 70s where the short black dressed nonnas clutched rosary beads at tram stops and muttered in a foreign language. They initially relied on their children and their grandchildren to translate.
Are you blaming the wife for not taking English classes? Who was in government when the husband migrated here? Who was in government when the wife migrated here?
Are you suggesting that she and the husband have had too many children? I agree they are a tad above average. They are Muslin, after all. However, the Jews are also renowned for having many children; as do practicing Catholics (less so now).
May I suggest that apart from the missing child the real issue is that the husband was/is a drug addict – and that interferes with his capacity and willingness to work. My sympathies are with the wife and the children. Did you mention that the home and the garden was spotless and well maintained.
Forgive me Profession but your post, at least at first glance, reads as if Lebanse are Muslins who have too many children and live off welfare and haven’t even bothered to adapt to our culture in the most basic of ways by learning our language.
By gosh Professor, all I can say is that my loud white trashy and probably Christian neighbours have 2 kids. They collect welfare and live in house provided by the housing commsion. The place is a pig sty. The back yard is littered with bits of cars and they have a cat that is always having kittens. Neither the parents nor the kids display any manners, courtesy, respect. I think they speak English but to be honest I can’t be sure. As a rough translation I think Shruu is Shut Up.
Just saying.....
We have a choice with migrants, we don't have a choice with home grown ferals.
DeleteKnowing what you do know about your neighbours do you think their presence here is good for Australia? Should we import people like that even if we don't have to?
What is the significance of what government was in power? Do you claim it is the govermnents fault these people are who they are and do what they do? I am an immigrant myself and I had to pay my own way from the moment I arrived including nearly $5000 for my visas. No access to social security no help with anything. Am I complaining? No,because I came here to build a new life and not for the social security. The difference with this mob and the nonnas your describe is that the nonnas tought their children respect and manners. The offspring of these nonnas build this country because the Anglo Saxons population was too lazy and didnt want to do the dirty jobs thats why all the Euro immigrants were imported: to do the dirty work.
DeleteJust saying ......
I dare you LesLester!
DeleteInvestigate...
"....probably Christian....."
ask them who their Pastor, Priest, Reverend is? When their last bible study was or how often the family pray together?
I don't want to stereotype you unfairly however.
I'm working on this concept. Islam largely exists as a supra-national identity with 5th Column implications for all countries. Ironically Christianity exists much the same way. The fact that both are mutually exclusive has irrevocable implications for our legal system. All other interpretations are a "state of denial". You have time to reconsider your statement - but not forever. My humble opinion.
Ha! Twas a tongue in cheek go at the Professor who attributes blame to Julia Gillard and the Labour Party for all the woes of the country.
DeleteI do refuse to support someone who is well enough to produce new baby every year /and gets more money from the taxpayers for his growing family & gets new, bigger house without any effort / but is not well enough and earn money to support his family. take your glasses off, Leslester !!!!!!
DeleteAnon - as my vision is 20:20, so to speak, thus there is no requirement for spectacles. Alas, it is you who cannot see clearly - nor it would seem, understand my point despite it being clearly articulated!
DeleteFrom my reading of the article (btw have you actually read it anon?) the wife and the children (albeit a lot of children) are doing fine. It is the husband who is the problem. Even drug addicts can produce children.
The house, it would seem, is well maintained - unlike my Aussie neighbours. I dread to think how much money the government will need to spend to repair the damage caused to the home/garden by my neighbours? The children are polite and respectful AND they have dreams of earning their living in the future. My neighbours seem to spend their welfare cheques on UDL cans judging from the number that litter the front garden.
Of course the husband should be working and supporting his family - and as the article actually states (there is a family rift because the husband will not do the right thing in this regard) - but what are the wife and chidren to do?
There is also the generational factor to be considered. The children, having been raised in Australia, educated and exposed to considerably more than their parents, will most likely have fewer children.
It would also be wrong to assume that this family is a cog in the mulit-generational-cycle of welfare-takers to which my lovely neighbours appear to subscribe.
Look at the facts not the race/religion.
Ask yourself "if they were Aussies would I still be upset and enraged?". Yes of course you would. So, if that is the case why mention race/religion? Unless of course you are a racist!
And if you are just say so.
Islam is not race ...
Delete"that" hasn't helped you see anything
Leslester, did I say anything about their religion?show me where? how can I believe that their children will not end up on the welfare when 95% of those people after 5 years here is still supported by us with no intention to work. the father of this family can not work because he gets migraine but does not get migraine when he has /unprotected/ sex? cut the welfare to them and see how many will remain in Australia & how many of them will board the boats to come here.
Delete'The Jews are also renowned for having many children". Good one Les. Orthodox Jews may have many children because of a strict interpretation of the law. Most Jewish families in this country are indistinguishable from "traditional" Aussie Anglo-Celtic families in the number of children. How do I know? I am the product of one and now have a family of my own with families of their own. If you are going to cite examples please be precise in your descriptions. Kol Tuv
DeleteDarn it, pay-walled. If you look at the list of Victorian multicultural grants (and stuff it into Excel as I did) you'll see that Greeks are the largest recipients. Hell they've been living here for quite a few decades now, how long does it take for an olived skinned person to finally just be Australian?
ReplyDeleteCopy the link and paste it into the Google search engine.
DeleteSelect "I'm feeling lucky".
You get the full article.
"how long does it take for an olived skinned person to finally just be Australia"
ReplyDeleteThat's up to them, you know that, right DaveA?
Eh, not quite Anon, the more we celebrate them being something other than Australian the longer we can expect them to not be.
DeleteSome faulty logic here? Two wongs making a white government the perp of these social evils?
ReplyDeleteAnd as for letting the Lebs off because of the behaviour of the Greeks..well take that argument down to Eurozone HQ and see how far you get.
I do agree about the restaurants, but there's only so much baklava one can eat
"...Forgive me Profession but your post, at least at first glance, reads as if Lebanse are Muslins who have too many children and live off welfare and haven’t even bothered to adapt to our culture in the most basic of ways by learning our language..."
ReplyDeleteReplace "Lebanse" (sic) with a more encompassing description of the (mostly muslim/arabic) uninvited new comers and the Prof's well made point does indeed reflect reality.
For the purposes of clarity the Professor himself should respond! Perhaps I missed something. Was the husband uninvited or did he actually follow the standard protocols that were in place at that time. Again I stress, the husband seems to be a bad apple. The wife and children are stuck with him in much the same way, I imagine, as the Nonnas were stuck with their husbands. The children, educated in Australia will most likely contribute to our society in a way similar to the children and grandchildren of the Nonnas.
DeletePoor Rita. You are fearful of what you do not understand and resent change. You remind me of the employee who insists of using a typewriter when the rest of the office has computers and word processing.
Imagine yourself Rita as a young bride. You are betrothed to someone you probably don't even know and by the age of 20 have a child and then more children. You are busy caring for them. You are taken to a new country where you do not speak the language. You live in a small home and you keep it spotless. You work all day everyday cleaning, cooking, and looking after the children. Your husband tells you only what he wants you to know and is rarely home. When he is home his behaviour is erratic. You follow your cultural and religious ways. Your husband tells you what you can and cannot do - perhaps it even suits him for you to 'language-isolated' - it means you cannot complain or seek assistance from anyone other than those who understand you.
Rita you make it sound like a conspiracy. Race and religion aside - take a walk around some of the housing commissions suburbs....open your eyes....
"...Poor Rita. You are fearful of what you do not understand and resent change. You remind me of the employee who insists of using a typewriter when the rest of the office has computers and word processing..."
DeleteKeep your day job, if you have one, you dont do condescending ad hominems very well, and since I do not shoot fish in a barrel I shall spare you the image of what you remind me of.
OK, I've got it now; so even if an immigrant family can be demonstrably shown to be abusing the system and our national hospitality it's always only the man who is to blame. Obvious really.
Delete"The children, educated in Australia will most likely contribute to our society in a way similar to the children and grandchildren of the Nonnas"
DeleteYou have to be joking. My family (refugees/immigrants) were successful because there was a mentality of study and hard work, and a feeling that welfare was basically for "other people"....no one in my family has ever received unemployment benefits. When your parents bring you up to expect others to house you you are really starting behind the 8-ball
I have nothing against this family but it is just incredibly sad.
There seems to be some silly equivalence argument about the old Nonnas of the post war immigrations and these wives of Muslims. Whether or not Nonnas were also victims of their culture, that culture co-opted a fierce work ethic. The admirable stereotype then was the husband with three jobs and the wife (nonna?) with two, get the flat – house- house for kids etc. As for the children, well, usually tertiary education (many small businesses too) and often Aussie/Italian marriages (my own extended family includes such an example, still with Italian names and entrepreneur/engineering backgrounds). Is this a stereotype? Not for mine because I saw many examples. Many Italian immigrant crooks too I suspect, but no third BMW at 21 or anything (no bullet holes in the front window either).
DeleteMalcolm Fraser brought the Lebanese hill tribes here against advice. It was as if you got a select bunch of hill tribe Afghans from the area south of Kandahar – future Taliban country where the burka ruled and education died, where a woman had to know only the duty to her father and the duty to her husband - and expected the second generation round of female academics instead of the high percentage of early marriages to first cousins - and lifetime welfare-dependancy as the top-up cream.
You are right to include the usual members of the parasite class, of ferals as someone called them (Non-working Class is my preferred term). But to lump Nonnas into that mix is ridiculous. Besides, I am not going to count on those very same housos to maintain ‘my’ party in government either let alone sympathise with them (from very much ’afar’, as is mostly the case).
We used to bring people here to benefit Australia. Now we bring people here to benefit them. Immigration used to be a way to build a better Australia. Now immigration is a charity. We collect the world's flotsam and jetsam the way some people collect lost dogs. Immigration is now part of our welfare system.
ReplyDeletePedro of Adelaide
A lost dog, treated in the same fashion as we treat our flotsam and jetsam, would become loyal.
DeleteAustralia has become like the proverbial "crazy old cat lady" who can't stop collecting stray cats. Is that what we want for this country...to become a bankrupt, basketcase, trainwreck full of warring tribes and competiting ethnic gangs fighting over who controls the drug trade, prostitution and various protectin rackets?
DeleteThank you, to all contributors. This has been an excellent thread.
DeleteFrom a migrant who arrived here in 1948.