Senator Andrew Bartlett
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
 
Riddle Me This
I’m seeking the help of readers to interpret the possible meaning of a somewhat mysterious, poetic comment made in the Senate by the Immigration Minister, Senator Vanstone. It was near the end of a long debate on the Migration Detention Bill on the final night of Senate sittings on 23rd June.

I had just been speaking about my opposition to the principle of mandatory detention, and that while I supported efforts to ameliorate some of the negatives of that principle, it was essential to keep pressing to take that unacceptable principle out of the heart of the law and cast it aside.

Senator Vanstone responded by saying:

"there is a collection of phrases that I have never forgotten which someone put before me when I was much, much younger. I want you to remember this, Senator Bartlett, because it will come back at some point to what you have just said. It goes like this:

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers
And things are not what they seem.

I am not at liberty to go any further than that. I know it is a bit of a tease, but I want you to remember it, because it will come back to you.”
The Minister gave particular emphasis to the importance of the last line of
the verse.

Now, I’m all for livening up political debate with evocative language and different means of expression, but I did find this one a bit too cryptic. Perhaps it’s a guide to how Ministerial Discretion is exercised under the Migration Act these days? It's certainly very hard to figure out why that is used in some cases and not others.

A quick search showed the lines are from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called The Psalm of Life, but seeing the Minister said she didn’t know who wrote it, that probably doesn’t lead me anywhere much. (It’s not too bad an ode to follow for a political life though).

Maybe it’s a secret code signal to Petro Georgiou and his mates to start hassling the Prime Minister again?

Any one out there got any interpretations they’d like to share?

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Tuesday, July 05, 2005 Permalink
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