LIMINAL

As a board member with STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia, I recently took part in an exposure tour of south-east Asia to see examples of what slavery looks like today – and the good work being done to combat it. I am a relatively new advocate in the campaign to end modern slavery. It wasn’t hard joining, because I could see that Jesus Christ, the holy troublemaker, the revolutionary Messiah, lived in a world not unlike our own. There were slaves and masters then and there are slaves and masters now. It’s just that today, despite our access to 24/7 news media, slaves are largely hidden. In fact, the risks of becoming a modern slave are rarely visible to the victim, until it’s too late. There’s a story I heard that illustrates this. Cho, not his real name, was 15. He and his Burmese family were barely able to afford to eat. Then someone offered him a job in a factory. After being transported to an unknown place, Cho was locked in a room. “I thought, ‘Why do they have to lock the door?’”

What a Reconciliation Week. Not only were we reconciling differences after a bruising election, but a respected Indigenous man was appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians, the first Indigenous Australian to be given that responsibility. Ken Wyatt was subjected to racist taunts during his campaign for the West Australian seat of Hasluck in 2010. After his narrow win for the Liberals, some people who voted for him complained they didn't realise he was Aboriginal. He was born on a mission farm, a former home for young Indigenous children removed from their families. His mother was one of them. In his maiden speech Wyatt thanked Kevin Rudd for the 2008 national apology to stolen generations. When he heard it, in his office in the West Australian department of health where he was director of Aboriginal health, he cried. "My mother and her siblings, along with many others, did not live to hear the words delivered in the apology, which would have meant a great deal to t