Idiot Aussies: Grow up and take responsibility

Alexander Downer: After about 10 minutes as foreign minister I was a little surprised to learn I was "responsible" for miscreant Australians who got into trouble in foreign countries.   No, no, no, don't get it wrong - drug traffickers, drunks, kleptomaniacs and fraudsters weren't responsible for their own stupidity - I was.   It's about time that great nanny in Canberra, the Federal Government, turned around and told people they are responsible for their own decisions.   Downer has some amusing anecdotes about people's unreasonable and ungrateful reactions to being caught in foreign places at the wrong time, often despite the government warning them to either not go or to get out if they were already there.   Such as the people evacuated from Lebanon during Israel's action against the terrorist group Hezbollah wanted to know if they'd get frequent flyer pointsfrom the free flights! And of course the reason it took some time to get it all arranged wasn't because they were on the other side of the world, but because of racism.   Adelaide Now

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