An inclusive galaxy far away

An inclusive galaxy far away

'No Housekeeping Please.'' ''Do Not Disturb.'' ''On Honeymoon.'' The doorknobs at five-star hotels will have to be made longer to accommodate the cards that guests need to hang outside their rooms to dissuade intruders and cleaners from entering their private quarters. It can also be anticipated that international travellers to Australia will bring their own bedlinen, housekeepers, staff and cooks in order to preserve the sanctity and security of their luxury penthouse hotel rooms. Future guests could also outsource the cleaning duties and relieve the hard-working hotel staff, who might productively spend their time cleaning the foyers or stairwells more. And Australia might become a forbidden zone for grass-smoking jet-setters, as Dubai is for alcoholics. The stakes in the action in the current Star City Wars, between the Star casino and its rival, the James Packer casino consortium at Barangaroo, were raised to a higher level this week with the Star's ejection of Channel Nine star Joel Madden for possible cannabis possession. Star City Casino is attempting to play holier-than-thou, whiter than Princess Leia's dress, as the Rebellion striking a savage lightsabre blow at The Empire's Darth Vader - David Gyngell at Nine, James Packer's best man and friend. Advertisement Madden is a smoking-hot judge on Nine's The Voice. He has more ink on his body than The Sun-Herald. But there are no rules in the fight for the hearts, minds and wallets of Australia's gambling public. Just ask Tom Waterhouse. It's like caged fighting but without betting. In all of this scenario, the utility of the Cannabis Cautioning Scheme was shown to be the best step forward in drug law enforcement and legislation. The NSW Police Force is using its discretionary powers to divert small-time users away from the sausage-machine procedures and expensive lawyers involved in the judicial system. Small users are cautioned - full stop. There is no charge or criminal record. Smokers are warned of the hazards of drug use. The state is slowly but inevitably moving towards decriminalisation of drug use. Snoop Lion (nee Snoop Dogg) will not be staying at the Dark Star in Darling Harbour. He would rather smoke a Barangaroo in Woolloomooloo at the Blue Hotel. It is not just the blue ties that red-headed Julia Gillard pointed out as part of the Liberal Party's uniform for public performances, but something more settled. Blue eyes are the subtext of the Liberal Party's Boat-People Immigration Policy. Blue ties and blue eyes. All the boat people have brown eyes. Turn those boats around and send them back to where they came from. There is an underlying racism in the tragedy that is the disaster of Australia's continuing and, if Tony Abbott wins power, future immigration policy. Boat people are waving and drowning but nobody's saving them. The Greens' hands are covered in red after they deliberately refused to allow the Malaysian/Papua New Guinea temporary solution proposed by the government. Hundreds of souls would have been saved instead of drowning at sea. The pursed lips and policies of the party are a portal to purgatory. Australia is the melting pot of all nationalities, drifting as if by gravity to the great southern land. This is as it should be. Asians, also brown-eyed, are now embedded in our urban landscape in their brilliant colours and culinary cultures. We, as a country, are so much more attractive than we were when we were black and white. We have not only survived Menzies' Yellow Peril nightmare but thrived through Keating and Hawke's enlightened Asian immigration policy. We are, however, still capable of being manipulated by politicians playing race cards pulled from their sleeves. Blue eyes, blue ties. If only the Vikings and Scandinavians could get back into their square-sailed boats and come here. With their blonde hair, horned helmets and metal skirts - the full Game of Thrones dress - they would be welcomed and not kept in barbed-wire hell houses in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. The world is in flux, but some politicians still think the world is flat. Blue eyes, blue ties. Change is the only constant. It applies to the climate, to the currency and to the coastline. The only way to survive is to adapt. Only the dead can resist change; the living must go with the flow. Australia's future is to be a hospitable pit stop to visitors and travellers. We must learn to treat them with respect and equality, whether they arrive by jet, like Madden, or by boat from Indonesia.



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