I suppose we could call it courage but foolhardiness might be a better word. The Labor Party government has made itself hostage to Malaysian jailers by insisting that boat people sent from Christmas Island will not end up being punished with a big stick. Given the reports from international organisations like Amnesty International that is a big risk. A savage whack or two across the backside seems to be a regular feature of Malaysian internment camps. Hopefully for Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen, inmates sent from Australia will be given a kangaroo badge to attach to their tunics s0 that the guards know they are to be left hit free. Otherwise you can count on the fact that they first time a Christmas Island deportee cops a bruising there will be justifiable shouts of outrage back home at the inhumane Labor policy.

It is just another sad example, really, of why our Prime Minister is not fit to be the head of a once proud party that used to care about human rights. The Liberal Party option of processing boat people on Nauru would be more humane than the Julia Gillard policy.