A letter with a difference arrived at my place recently. It was from 8 year old Guy who lives in Blackburn North in Melbourne. Guy enclosed a copy of a birthday card he'd sent to the Prime Minister.

'Dear Mr Howard,' Guy wrote in the card. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Congratulations on turning 64. I am sending you a copy of my favourite book BOY OVERBOARD by Morris Gleitzman. It is about a family of refugees. It is quite sad. I hope it may make you think about what it is like to be a refugee. Best wishes, Guy. PS, I'm afraid I have already read the book so it is not new.'

I rang Guy and congratulated him on his generosity and his skill in choosing a birthday present. I was tempted to casually drop into the conversation the date of my own birthday, but I didn't. Guy might only have been 8, but he sounded like a person who'd know if he was being fed a line.

Which is just as well. A few weeks later, Guy's mum sent me the PM's reply.

Dear Guy,
   Thank you for your recent letter wishing me a happy birthday. Your kind thoughts are greatly appreciated!
   You also sent me a copy of Morris Gleitzman's book Boy Overboard. While I can understand what the book says about what it must feel like to be a refugee, I would like to tell you what the government is doing about people who seek asylum in Australia.
   Australia has a long and proud record of accepting refugees from all over the world. We currently accept 12,000 people per year for permanent resettlement under the refugee and humanitarian programme. No-one who applies and is accepted under proper refugee and humanitarian processes is detained.
   However each year some people try to avoid the proper processes and come to Australia by air or by sea without passports and/or visas. Sometimes they even come here with false documents or documents that have been obtained by fraudulent means. The government has a policy of either deporting or detaining people who are trying to enter Australia illegally, in order to keep the community safe for everyone. If people are detained, it is because their reasons for wanting to come and stay in Australia are being assessed. We need to be able to control the entry and stay of people in Australia. We do not want people here if they have committed dangerous crimes, if they have illnesses that might pose a health threat to Australians, or if they do not have good reasons to stay in Australia. While it is true that many people who are in immigration detention centres decide to apply for refugee status, if they are found to be genuine refugees they are released from detention. Otherwise they will be deported.
   I would like to tell you that the government is doing what it can to minimise the period of time detainees spend in immigration detention centres. Significant measures have been taken to improve the speed and effectiveness of the decision-making process.
   Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I am returning your copy of Boy Overboard so you can keep it on your bookshelf. I send you my best wishes and hope you are enjoying school.

   Yours sincerely
   John Howard.

I've been thinking a lot about Guy's card and the Prime Minister's response. I've also been remembering many of the thoughts and feelings young Australians have expressed to me about detention centres. So I've decided to write another story. Not a sequel to Boy Overboard, more a companion book. It's not about Guy and the Prime Minister, it's about a girl I'm only just starting to get to know in my imagination. She doesn't even have a name yet, but already I'm discovering how upset she is that kids are being held prisoner in her country, and I'm beginning to get a sense of how determined, creative and jaw-dropping she's prepared to be to try and help them.

I'll be starting her story as soon as I've put the finishing touches to Toad Away, which I'll be doing pretty soon as it's coming out in November. So more about her next month.

In the meantime, if you live in the UK in Manchester, Bolton, Biggleswade, Bedford, London, Cambridge, Ely, South Wales, Bristol, Portsmouth or Weybridge, I might bump into you soon.

If not, until next time, oo-roo and happy reading,

3 September 2003