They say you can tell a lot about a person by the friends he keeps and so it is with Tony Abbott, says senior correspondent Barry Everingham.
Most of the civilized world's leaders have a certain opinions of the corrupt thugs in control of Sri Lanka.
Its attitude towards human rights is deplorable, leading the UN to accuse the country of war crimes. It says up to 40,000 civilians may have died in May 2009 when Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed by government troops after a three year civil war.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, outraged the regime by breaking away from the CHOGM talks last weekend to visit northern Sri Lanka — torn apart by the actions of the very Government Tony Abbott has been defending and enabling.
Cameron ‒ who Abbott looks up to, as he loves Brits, especially if they are Eton educated Conservatives ‒ hasn't commented on his Antipodean opposite number's crass attitude, so we can only assume the horror he must feel. It is probably something along the lines of — those bloody colonials, why don't they just stay at home!
What Cameron did say, however, was reported worldwide. He wants an international enquiry into the activities. The Sri Lankans must address allegations of war crimes within months or else he will push for a United Nations investigation.
Abbott, on the other hand, has another take on what’s going on.
Far from condemning the Sri Lankan Government’s murderous war crimes, he has been handing over military hardware in the form of two superannuated naval boats, which will be used to stop Sri Lankans fleeing persecution. It can only be imagined what those hapless souls will be subjected to once brought back.
Tony Abbott is really a piece of work.
In the face of universal criticism of Sri Lankan naval complicity in people smuggling operations, Abbott comes up with a doozy — even from someone as two-faced as him.
He says:
“While I regret that, at least on the face of it, there appears to have been some improper behaviour, the fact that the Sri Lankans have been cracking down hard on catching people leaving by boats gives me great confidence.”
He says this in spite of reports that naval complicity in people smuggling reaches senior levels of the navy.
Abbott also says to whoever will ever listen that "significant progress" has been made in the observance of human rights in Sri Lanka since the civil war ceased.
But we have to remember that only last week the Prime Minister heaped praised on Cardinal Pell.
In a court in Melbourne yesterday, Pell's great and good friend, the fiendish paedophile former Father Ridsdale, in jail for his heinous attacks on young boys, was again in court facing even more charges.
This, of course, has nothing to with Sri Lankan brutality. Rather it goes towards Pell's inability to be careful about the company he keeps.
And Abbott’s.
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