Introduction
My favourite places in Australia are Townsville, Khancoban and Albany.
As you can probably guess, my early days involved a lot of travel all over
Australia. My dad worked as a Diesel Mechanic or Engineer as they like to say on
the ships and in European countries.
He had spent his early years travelling the world on sea freighters.
Unfortunately he has little to say about such a fascinating life style. I
suppose he carried his interest of travel to Australia. I would call him a
citizen of the world, because home is the entire world.
His love for all people has influenced me and I am saddened that many
countries have histories of discrimination. I would hope that any person in the
world, including Australians and Islanders can make a home anywhere in the world
that they wish. It saddens me a great deal when I see the harsh way refugees are
treated when they can find no legal way to get here.
Working on ships, my dad would not have been classed as a refugee. He might
have been classed as a tourist or perhaps as criminal or illegal immigrant if he
jumped ship.
Since Australia is closing its castle gates to the outside refugee problem
and avoiding the Australian laws by settling these people and families in
offshore prison like facilities, I would like to propose a different and more
humane solution.
I notices that the wise Chinese government once ‘leased out’ (if that is the
correct word) a place called Hong Kong. Once the lease ran out both the West and
the Chinese government seemed quite keen to offer a home to the jewel called
Hong Kong.
If Hong Kong could earn the admiration of major powers of the world, then I
propose that Australia follow the ancient tradition and lease out some of its
land for 75 to 200 years so a city can develop. Once the lease ended we could
offer the city full membership to our own nation of Australia.
Example of the type of place I propose
 | the area of land may be subject to, and be under the protection of
international law; military forces; police and peace keepers. Some local laws
and forces may exist to enable the tract of land to function as intended.
These laws may also be intended to maintain friendship with the Australian
nation. |
| Once our country has ‘leased’ the tract of land, it should not have the
ability to take back that land till the end of the lease. The lease should be
between 75 to 200 years. |
| The tract of land should always maintain permanent or utilitarian
accommodation for surges of refugees that may occur. These accommodations
should not be subject to Australian law. We already dodge the Australian law
by placing families in compounds (prisons); behind barbed wire on Islands off
shore. |
| Any refugees that stay for longer than a certain period will be given
permanent accommodation in the main part of the city. |
| Some refugees may find themselves subject to criminal proceedings under
international law and possibly local laws of that tract of land. I don’t have
any suggestions on how to handle that one yet. |
The structure of the city
I suggest the tract of land will eventually become a city. It should have
certain special rights because it may become a very large and dense population
type cityscape.
The following could be useful things to have in such a city:
| international airport; |
| port facilities; |
| water purification facilities |
| waste processing facilities |
| surge (utilitarian) accommodation for sudden influxes of refugees |
| ability to expand cities (modular?)
structure to accommodate increasing
numbers of permanent residents in quality accommodation. |
| like Hong Kong, be independent to a degree. Be able to make laws, business
deals and contracts with other nations as it feels is beneficial. |
| be allowed to extend into the sea, if the city so desires. Industry may
even be developed in the sea areas. This may include food, energy, manufacture
and mining. |
| Should not develop powerful weapons that threaten our own country's
security. |
| maintain a good human rights record and health system. Possibly it should
reflect Australian standards in human rights and health. That is, it may not
have things like the death penalty. It may have some leeway in human rights
also, like fewer restrictions on quality of accommodation to serve for
influxes of refugees (as mentioned above). |
| to be accepted as an independent state and a part of Australia once the
lease ends. |
A city is a very complex place. Things like energy supplies, Medical
facilities, food supplies, emergency response teams ( fire, flood, cyclone ),
political system, legal systems, recreation facilities, industries, commercial
districts, road networks, education, child care and many more subjects could
take up volumes of pages to cover. My aim is not to cover all possibilities in
this suggested solution, rather I am trying to place the starting blocks.
In What place should be put this jewel of a city
Canberra is a dry, but nevertheless a magnificent feat of civil engineering.
Imagine if such a brilliant designer today were allowed to lay the foundations
of an immense and dense population style city centre that would one day be our
jewel to claim back as our own along with welcoming if not encouraging any
people there to stay.
I am defiantly not talking about settling these people in some out of sight,
out of our of mind barren rock in the sea.
I am not sure if there is a place where a large city could not survive on
mainland Australia, since city's service and draw from surrounding areas and the
world at large. However, if there were such an unfavourable place, I would not
suggest placing the city there either. My guess is that initial growth of a
large city is sensitive to initial placement! That is why I think placement on a
coast is a good idea. Port facilities may assist a large city to grow and
prosper.
I suggest locations on the coast of WA or SA, because those areas have sparse
population. Also on a coastal security point, they are isolated enough to allow
our coast guard and air guard to do their job. Having a place for refugees to go
to does not mean they will go there, we will still have to deal with these
people. The difference is that all refugees will never be turned back, they will
always find a place to stay.
Although my dad may have travelled the world by choice, I am sure there are
many refugees that yearn to go home, and do so once they feel secure enough.
Such a city that I propose should have the physical and legal connections to the
world at large to somehow allow for the provision of affordable service to a
large number of people that wanted to return home.
We have all heard of the New Zealand government mentioning that they have the
most skilled taxi, cleaner and kitchen hands in the world. This is in reference
to the fact that skilled people can not find work and must take on unskilled
work. I suspect that there are plenty of skilled refugees, tourists and world
travellers that can help build and manage the city I propose.
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