Learn from the mistakes of others

A summary of recent news by the local independent newspaper Independent Weekly included these gems:

Law Council says UK cares more for Hicks...

The Law Council of Australia says Britain is embarrassing Australia by showing more concern for the fate of terror suspect David Hicks than his homeland. Law Council president John North has made the comments after London's Court of Appeal upheld the right of Australian-born Hicks to British citizenship. North is appealing to the Federal Government to do all it can to help Britain fast-track Hicks's bid.

...but Aust says a British Hicks can come home

Australia would allow a British David Hicks home if he is freed from a US military prison, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says. Hicks, born in Adelaide, has received a boost to his campaign to be released from Guantanamo Bay after a UK appeals court upheld a ruling against the British Government's bid to deny him citizenship. Ruddock said the 30-year-old could return to Australia as a newly-released British citizen. "If he is no longer held by the United States, he has an entitlement to return to Australia," he told ABC radio. "There's no basis upon which he would be denied travel documents to travel to Australia," Mr Ruddock said.

SO the best thing for an Australian to do before they travel overseas these days is to acquire a foreign citizenship.

Our government is not prepared to help Hicks as a Citizen of Australia, but he's fine if released for being British.

WTF!