I was an #Australian #migration officer before #immigration became exclusion, before the Border Protection Bill, before Nauru. When the spirit was to invite people in, not keep them out - good people, loved ones, & those in need of protection.

I understood (& applied) migration
2/
rules as a silent contract with Australians, who accepted & welcomed foreigners, knowing & trusting that procedures & numbers were a balance of needs & requirements, a give & take. A system that argued its case year after year, wooed for support, accountable to all.
3/
Where rules were clear & fair, & so were services. Not once have I had a case of refusal that did not have a reason I couldn't explain, & those denied entry might not have liked, but understood it & why it made sense.

It's been painful to see immigration hijacked, usually by
4/
populists, usually for their own benefit, not the country's. Prejudice & (often false) ideas have replaced information & knowledge of the system. Ignorance cheers bad laws.

I miss the time when migration was based on numbers AND humanity. It wasn't perfect. But it was better.

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More from @BettinaSRoss1

20 Jan
@CNN are repeatedly mentioning -rightly & proudly- the fact that for the 1st time a woman, of both colour & immigrant descent, will be VP.

I, too, am punching the air. At the same time I wonder why, in 2021, this is still a 1st. Any why none of her accomplishments are mentioned.
@KamalaHarris is not 'just' the 1st female VP of colour and immigrant descent. She is also a lawyer, a fmr State Attorney & Senator. Maybe mine is a European view & to US viewers this is obvious? I don't know.
I know all these 'firsts' are important. (I wish they weren't 'firsts'). They're not *not* important. But maybe they're not *all* important? They're part of her. What makes her. Like her academic & professional accomplishments, her kindness & determination, perseverance & drive.
Read 4 tweets
18 Jan
My day so far:

Got up.
Had coffee.
Doctor's appointment no. 1
Shopping
Doctor's appointment no. 2
Took cardboard boxes to recycling bin
Collected old family diaries & photo albums from my stepdad
Took them home, looked at cover
"My Poland Campaign 1939"
😳
Trying to breathe
2/

Just going through the material. Most of it is from my stepdad's dad who joined the German army in 1936 and went on the Poland, Belgium, France & Russia campaigns. Where he was killed.

There's a beautiful letter to his 2-yr-old for Christmas 1942. And photos of war dead.
3/

I rang my stepdad. He says, you look after this for me.

I want to cry. So much trust. So much pain. And quite a burden just to look at.

I'm holding the past and the present in my hands.
Read 6 tweets
26 Dec 20
Remember Rees-Mogg's far-right German friends? (⬇️)
Last week, they asked parliament to appoint a 'Federal Commissioner for the Persecution of Christians'
Transparent & populist, their move prompted one of the best debates the Bundestag has seen in a while
bbc.com/news/world-eur…
2/
One after the other, MPs from all parties rose to tell the AfD they are not Christian & neither embody nor defend any Christian values. That cynically they will invoke & use Christianity only when it serves to incite division, resentment & prejudice against Muslims & Jews.
3/

Down to the point & not mincing his words, here's @helgelindh's speech, uncovering the far-right's bigotry:

Read 6 tweets
2 Nov 20
#OTD in 1950, the world lost the wonderful George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright & 1925 recipient of the Nobel Prize for #Literature

(Apart) from his work, there's a treasure trove of wonderful quotes, so I thought I'd do an all-day thread, adding them one by one as we go...

1/
2/

"He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."

- George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara
3/

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple.

But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

- George Bernard Shaw
Read 10 tweets
30 Oct 20
So my mum (who knows everything) has found this method of multiplying fresh #yeast, which many of you in the UK (& me during lockdown) have difficulties getting their hands on. Here's my test.

½ cube fresh yeast
15 gr sugar
100 ml water
100 gr wheat flour

#baking #Cooking
2/

Mix & let it rise until bubbly. Use any available baking form (or ice cube form, which I do not possess) & apportion. Tip: use a wet spoon, dip in water before every transfer (tested, works). Freeze.
3/

Now we need to figure out how powerful that yeast is compared to the original and we will do that tomorrow. Stay with me.
Read 4 tweets
19 Oct 20
On this day in 1745, the world (and Dublin) said farewell to Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish author & clergyman.

A mini THREAD of quotes:

"I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."

#OTD #Irish #author
2/

"May you live every day of your life."
- Jonathan Swift
3/

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."
- Jonathan Swift
Read 5 tweets

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