'In Australia, there is a high risk of being murdered or just disappearing and we don't mean just disappearing to become a plucky overstayer.'


Pacific Islanders should be frequently advised by their caring governments that travel in Australia can be very dangerous, perhaps less so in New Zealand.

The first danger is the risk of losing the $100 or so demanded for a holiday visa. The money will not be returned if the application for a visa is rejected, possibly because some official or the other doesn't like the look of your face. Revenue from confiscated $100 visa fees is surely enormous. It possibly covers the foreign aid spending in the islands by the two countries.

Recent intelligence from Australia more than adequately illustrates the perils lurking in that large country waiting to trap innocent Pacific Islanders.

If not first caught up and thoroughly bashed in a Sydney race riot, islanders are liable to be caught and thoroughly barbecued in a bush fire.

In Sydney and other cities, the water is not good to drink. It is so thoroughly polluted with supposedly protective chemicals that the taste is lousy.

One's innards become calcified or otherwise coated with substances liable to strip the taste from one's buds.

In Australia, there is a high risk of being murdered or just disappearing, and we don't mean just disappearing to become a plucky overstayer. Murders, not a murder, happen every day it appears. Some of them are very gruesome, executed with imagination that few, if any, Pacific Islanders could contrive.

In February, Sydney police discovered a body in the boot of a car and several other bodies in other parts of the city. Tribal warfare at Bondi saw six people stabbed in just one wild brawl.

In Melbourne, tribal warring got someone else killed on the eve of the day the corpse was supposed go on trial over another killing. This corpse's death was placed in the “assassination” category, a category that a lot of corpses get categorised as, as Melbourne's history shows. Also Sydney's, not to mention Queensland's.

Also in February, a man shot dead by a policeman he was trying to kill turned out to be the number one suspect in the slaughter of two Melbourne sisters for what appeared to be no reason at all.

In many parts of many places in Australia and New Zealand, the visitor welcomed on arrival at an airport with the promise of a good time is very likely to be attacked, badly beaten and robbed by some of the natives.

The young natives are especially prone to loud, violent and bothersome drunken behaviour curbed only by a good bashing from patrolling constables.

Small children are not safe. They are often captured and abused and may be killed by wild animals or wild men. In February, a toddler in west Gippsland was killed by an animal described as being the family pet dog.

Most young natives appear to be illiterate. They have difficulties communicating and have the scruffy, unwashed look associated with poverty and slum life. Their vocabulary is very limited.

Visiting Pacific Islanders, those that get their $100 fees worth, will learn from newspapers, television and radio reports that Australia has a seriously bad governance problem.

All sorts of scams at state and federal government level happen and reach the highest political levels, just like in some of the Pacific Islands.

In February, at some of these very high political levels, levels from which many a lecture about good governance, accountability and transparency are directed at Pacific Islanders; very firm denials about their involvement in a giant wheat export scam were being uttered. A lot of the natives didn't appear to be convinced by the denials. On the other hand, if the Australian government realises that Australia has a governance problem, it doesn't want to admit it.

Australia, and perhaps less so New Zealand, are great learning experiences although not necessarily experiences not so cautious Pacific Islanders may survive.

Here endeth the latest advisory for travelling Pacific Islanders. Some may decide to avoid travel to Australia and New Zealand by staying at home. This leaves Australia and New Zealand in a quandary. They would prefer that Pacific Islanders not bother them with their presence, but on the other hand they do need those $100 fees to cover their aid budgets.