Reply to thread

I claim no expertise on the detail but in a technical sense I think you're right.

That said, the mistake he's made in my view is commenting at all. This debate is not being conducted rationally, it's being driven by emotion, and there's a lot of people just looking for a reason to trip others up. The PM is an obvious target there so from a purely political perspective he'd be better off talking about something, anything, else.

On the overall subject though, well I'll throw the grenade with a question:

How many Australians buy products they know, or would reasonably suspect, are produced by exploiting workers of predominantly a particular race?

Semantics and definitions of slavery and so on aside, the basic concept of exploiting other humans of a race different to our own is alive and well today and just about everyone in Australia, including those protesting, is supporting it with their purchasing decisions.

The argument that we can't afford to enforce proper pay, conditions, safety and environmental standards is after all the same argument used to justify slavery in the US and elsewhere in the past. Too expensive.

That doesn't cut it in my view. Cheap electronics or clothing is a pathetic excuse to justify exploitation of others who just happen to be primarily of one particular race. Don't expect the protestors to highlight it however, that would require looking in the mirror and seeing part of the problem and acknowledging that they personally are today still profiting from the exploitation of others.