"American security laws based on where a person was born mean some Australians can't work in defence industries in Australia. It's against our laws - but it's like it or lump it. Reporter Lorena Allam." This is the description on the ABC website introducing yesterday's Background Briefing. I was appalled to hear that Australian companies with US defence contracts were being obliged to fire or give other work to Australian citizens who were not born here but came from a very large list of proscribed countries.
Anyone born in any of those countries, no matter how long they have been in Australia, why they came here or whether or not they now have citizenship, is barred from working on certain projects. (In one case, the US government classified a person as Sudanese because he was born in a plane flying over Sudan!!!) In some firms, in order not to have to fire employees, companies are insisting workers wear badges designating their country of birth. Those wearing certain badges are not allowed to enter some areas. I felt sick hearing this. It has shades of Yellow Stars of David to me.
What happened to freedom and human rights? So many people have come to Australia seeking refuge from persecution and now we say they are not to be trusted because of where they were born and because some elements in the USA are now racially profiling workers. I wonder how many US citizens are aware of this. It's a sick world when the guy who designs a piece of technology the Defence Dept wants is not allowed to talk to them because he's of the wrong ethnic origin. Mind you they don't reject his technology, just him.
OK, so maybe enough Americans are prepared to see their right taken away for the sake of so called security. Australians should insist we don't want American contracts at the expense of ours.
