the "honourable" dissenters...

I'm not sure how I feel about these "dissenters" in the ranks of the Liberal party.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with the sentiment. This government's treatment of refugees is nothing short of appalling.

But where have they been before now? I know there's been a lot of public backtracking. I'm paraphrasing very broadly here, but we're hearing a lot of "I've always been opposed to" and "I'm very outspoken in caucus" from rather a few coalition backbenchers. But we've never seen this kind of open defiance of the little rodent. So where exactly have they been?

Its no coincidence that this public soul searching amongst government MP's has begun since they took control of the Senate. Previously they've been able to sit back, minding their careers, safe in the knowledge that others will protect the Australian people from the worst of their collective will.

Now that the others have been eviscerated, these people are forced to take a stand. Bruce Baird said in parliament this week that he expected to die politically for this stand. I hope he does. Not for the stand he's taking now, but for never having done so before.

There will be those who might argue that these folk have been vocal in their opposition to their government's policies, but simply saying it isn't enough. Words are just hollow, unless you've got the guts to cross the floor. And abstention is the cowards way out.

This group made some noise about a year ago and achieved some mitigation of the policies in question. But nowhere near enough. We can assume from their aquiescence to Howard's concessions that they are happy with their win and therefore with the government's current position.

I'm not. Neither are many others. Their day will come.