My immediate concern is that the refugees at the camp at which I will be working in Bethlehem have been there since they were displaced by Zionist “terrorists” in 1948.

I entered Palestine by land from Jordan through the Israeli controlled checkpoint at the Allenby Bridge.

As I was being subjected to a four-hour interrogation by the Israeli military, as to my motives for travelling to Palestine, I could not help but reflect on recent world events.

So I thought of the Orlando LGBTIQ massacre and the attempts by Donald Trump and Co to argue that it proved their Islamophobic rhetoric and the need for yet more people to have guns, and also of the Neo-Nazi inspired shooting of British Labour MP Jo Cox.

Then my thoughts turned to home, and with apologies to English poet Robert Browning for borrowing the title of his poem Home thoughts from abroad, I reflected on what was happening in Australia.

A high point locally was the recent vigil held for the victims of the Orlando massacre, organised by the Wagga chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and CSU’s Momentum LGBTIQ organisation.

It was encouraging to have such a good turn out and to have mayor Rod Kendall as a speaker, with former mayor Kerry Pascoe also there.

But apart from that, there is little to shout about, and much to lament.

I mentally grimaced as I passed through security at Sydney Airport’s International terminal and see it is now aggressively called “Border Force”.

Do we really need such macho posturing emblazed all the over the place?

And as the federal elections campaign wearily grinds on I despair that the two major combatants, the Liberal/National coalition and Labor, are in lock-step with regards to how we should treat asylum seekers who tried to find refuge by boat.

Lock them up, out of sight thousands of miles away, and throw away the key, is the essence of their policies.

They pretend otherwise, of course, arguing that those found to be genuine refugees can be resettled in other countries that will take them, though they have to resort to spending a small fortune to bribe countries such as Cambodia to accept them.

One event that almost escaped my attention as I travelled was the news of a boat of asylum seekers stranded off the Indonesian coast.

I reckon they should have their claims for protection assessed fairly and efficiently before being brought to Australia safely, if they are in need of protection.

Thankfully not all parties contesting this eight-week marathon of an election campaign see it as Messrs Turnbull, Joyce and Shorten do.

“Australia should engage with Indonesia and the UNHCR on the stranded boat in Aceh. These people must be allowed to put their claims forward in a safe location, so that they can be assessed fairly and efficiently, and Australia needs to play a role in that,” the Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

She’s right. The UN should be allowed to assess these people’s claims and, if they’re found to be in need of protection, Australia should offer to bring them here safely and resettle them.