One thing’s for certain, the good ol' welcome mat ain’t out on the front doorstep for asylum seekers yet. 

Regardless, On the Pulse thought, what with this week being Refugee Week, it could be interesting to check it all out. The Red Cross seemed like a good place to start, and in typical fashion On the Pulse jagged an opinion piece on the Red Cross website by their chief executive officer, Robert Tickner.

He quoted figures from The Refugee Council of Australia and the United Nations. As a not for profit NGO, On the Pulse considered the council to be a non-political source, and the United Nations has not been politically effective for decades. 

Straight up we were informed that people were uninformed.

Firstly, It's not a crime to come to Australia by boat without a visa and ask for protection, even though seven out of 10 people believe it is. Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution, even On the Pulse and Clive Palmer. It is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Secondly, there actually is no official queue to jump for refugees, but 60 per cent of Australians believe there is. Apparently it's more like a lottery than a queue. If a queue did exist, based on the number of refugees in the world, people at the end would get to the front in 170 years.

Thirdly, only 1 per cent of the world's refugees will be given safe haven in any given year. Only a small group of countries offer resettlement through the UN system. 

Fourthly and finally, there are almost 18 million refugees and asylum seekers in the world. Most recent statistics show 16.7 million refugees and 1.2 million asylum seekers worldwide. Most live in developing countries such as Pakistan and Iran. One third of Australians think there are 80 million, and almost another quarter think there are only 9 million.

One thing is for sure, next time this debate rages and On the Pulse is threatened with the door it will remember these four basic worldly truths.

On the Pulse was surprised to see that Inverell Shire Council has already got its sculpture in place at the Otho, Campbell and Henderson Streets roundabout. 

We saw it today and it looks fabulous. Colour and form, scale, it works.

Though, we thought the call had just been sent for artists to submit proposals for that fairly treacherous intersection where a B-double might flatten the investment, and so the installation of this interrogative monument raised a lot of question marks. 

Three in fact. It is a three-sided, larger than 2000 point red Helvetica question mark facing drivers. Great stuff. It really is the right piece when visitors and residents arrive or depart Inverell. 

“Why are you coming? Where are you going?” it asks. “Did you enjoy your time in Inverell and did we meet all your requirements?”

“Did you forget the milk?” as you put your foot down to get home after a long day.

How about the gripping “What’s ahead?” as you enter the main street? 

That open-ended philosophical query leads to grander things; the stuff that the art world resounds with such as, “Why are we all here?” and “What is our purpose?”

Or the more open-ended, “Who are we in the grand scheme of things?”

Of course, we would not presume that Inverell Shire Council is asking this question, but it does shed a scholarly and reflective light on the whole thing.  Our grand plan, what is it?

So council, good work. You have erected a piece of art that does inspire and intrigue, accessible to all ages and cultures, it’s weather resistant, likely won’t kill anybody if they run into it, and cheap to replace. 

In fact, we’ll put our hands up for it when the actual piece of public art is installed. Genius. Let’s hope the pieces the community are called upon to review and select from are equally compelling.