liberals detention centre legacy, page-82

What Howard did -or tried to do and obviously succeeded in many quarters-was to brutalise the country. Any means, even brutal means, is justified, so as to get what you want. And what he wanted was also mean and nasty, inhumane and dehumanising. Ruddock was his best lieutenant. The rest of his crew were pathetic, spineless "yes" men and women, who simply lived happily in voluntary exile from their own hearts and minds.

Howard: We shall go to war!
His crew: Yes, sir!
Howard: We shall place every refugee behind razor wire, for an indefinite period of time, in unbearable climate and conditions and brutalise them. They are "illegal immigrants."
His crew: Yes sir! Razor wire, sir! Illegal immigrants, sir! Brutalise them, sir! Yes, sir!

There's a world of difference between Liberal political philosophy and meanness. Howard was never a Liberal politician. The Liberal party needs a thorough cleansing of that dreadful pollution. If it can do it within this century it will be a miracle.
The awful thing is, that a number of Labor politicians were also touched by that contagion and so, that party, too, needs to shed itself of that virus that depletes a person from its humaneness. Let us hope that they don't take too long to achieve that.