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The Forum > Article Comments > Refugees seeking asylum > Comments

Refugees seeking asylum : Comments

By Stephen Austin, published 5/7/2010

The issue of asylum seekers has weighed on the conscience of Australians for a long time now.

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Of course, the most interesting thing about this 'debate' is that such a relatively trivial issue is apparently Australia's most pressing political concern, ranking above health, education, the environment and even the bloody mining tax. Well before Rudd's demise I predicted that the major parties would be racing each other to the bottom on asylum seekers in the forthcoming election. Sadly, I underestimated the willingness of the ALP to shift to the far right on refugees.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this article on the Courier Mail website this morning - though I notice that it has rapidly been shifted from the front page into obscurity:

<< Majority of asylum seekers come by air

ILLEGAL boat arrivals are a mere trickle compared to the thousands of people swarming through Australian airports to claim political asylum.

The boat arrivals are more likely to be genuine refugees, they don't receive special benefits nor "carry disease," and the idea they are queue jumpers is open to interpretation.

The information is contained in a Federal Parliament background note which explodes myths about boat arrivals. >>

Full story at http://tiny.cc/w45b6
Posted by CJ Morgan, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 9:47:03 AM
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<< …the most interesting thing about this 'debate' is that such a relatively trivial issue is apparently Australia's most pressing political concern… >>

CJ, it wouldn’t be a major issue if refugee advocates / open border proponents weren’t so vehement in their positions. One has got to ask, given that the number of onshore asylum seekers is small all-told, why is it of such importance to them that our borders remain porous and the boats be allowed to continue arriving?

Why on earth can’t they see that we’d be much better off with a tight border-protection policy, no boat arrivals and a much-boosted input into our offshore refugee aid programs and a larger formal refugee intake?

Why don’t they put their efforts into lobbying for a doubling of our formal refugee intake, an increase in our international aid to the UN recommended 0.7% of GDP and related matters?

It seems to me that their energies are just terribly misdirected.

The notion that the ALP has shifted to the far right with its new border-protection policy is fundamentally flawed. How stupid would they have been to just let the current situation continue, with quite frequent and ongoing boat arrivals, with already overcrowded processing centres, and if there was to be any further weakening of the policy by placing lots of asylum seekers in the open community, the rate of arrivals would just continue to increase.

Gillard has done what she HAD to do. There’s nothing far right about it. There’s no ‘race to the bottom’ between the ALP and Liberals over this issue.

Such terminology is just totally misplaced.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 12:26:44 PM
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Very nicely put Wobbles. And true.
_____________________________

We really rise to the occasion don't we? Such an obedient lot.

(Pick your PM)= 'Simon says':- "OK. gullible proletariat, start your protests:-

I'M not racist but../ YOU are PC/ WE are the silent majority/ THEY are illegals/ THEY are terrorists/ THEY are different/ THEY will control us/ THEY want us to embrace Islam/ THEY are taking our houses/ THEY are taking our jobs/ THEY get more Government money than us/ THEY get top medical care.
IT'S in their blood".

WE'VE done it every time. Every damn time. These worthless people who control this country indulge in their own political form of 'human trafficking';-using these folks as political pawns to get themselves reelected.

And we've indulged them because when these creatures in their Palace in Canberra sanction racism/ religious vilification/ and downright intolerance, we have open slather; we can really vent;-because we have been encouraged to do so by these manipulative and deceitful people.

Scum does indeed rise to the top.
____________________________

And DON'T give me the 'when in Rome' argument!

WE waste so much of OUR time being as intolerant as THEY are.
Posted by Ginx, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 12:48:25 PM
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David J, and there will be no orderly refugee asylum process because people keep short-circuiting the procedures (as vetted by the UN), using our law to keep REAL refugees in the refugee camps.

That ain't fair, I don't care where you come from... Every ACTUAL refugee would get a boat here tomorrow if they could afford it, trouble is they can't... Those that can, proceed to jump the queue...

I wonder, what would the mighty refugee advocates, those champions of the downtrodden, the dispossessed, the unfortunate, etc. think if we had a orderly, fair-to-all process worked out so that everybody's children had the same right of access to world-class education, with a quota. BUT those that could afford it were repeatedly allowed to jump the queue, leaving the rest to cope as they might?

I'm sure they'd be rapt, I mean, it is EXACTLY what the majority of the so-called asylum seekers are doing now, isn't it? Well except THAT would only be education, not a matter of life or death eh?

As to calling non-PC people anything, call them whatever you feel comfortable with them responding to, I suspect they will too. Pretty much do unto others as you'd have them do unto you? Ring some bells?

As for me, am I intolerant? I am more tolerant than most people, but I have a short-fuse when pushed... that said, tolerance has limits - push those too hard and wear whatever consequences I'm willing to pay for, get it?
Posted by Custard, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 5:44:35 PM
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<< First you create the notion that everybody is under imminent threat by some kind of menace. >>

Yes wobbles, governments and opposition parties have a tendency to do that.

But they also do the opposite. That is, they ignore issues that are simmering away and getting steadily worse or harder to deal with until there is sufficient public outcry to make them act or until the sh!t actually hits the fan!

Arguably, Howard did this by not acting on border protection until the Tampa incident in August 2001, by which time quite urgent and decisive action was needed.

And as far as population and sustainability policy goes, progressive governments have just turned a blind eye to the ever-worsening and harder-to-deal-with situation and continued to pander to the continuous growth mantra.

Finally, we have a PM who is really acknowledging the sustainability imperative and the significance of developing the right population policy, as she outlined in the first part of her speech at the Lowy Institute a couple of days ago: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/

The population and sustainability issue is of such fundamental importance that it alone makes her government more different to that of Rudd than any Labor government has been from any Liberal government for decades!!…just as long as appropriate action ensues and she is not just spouting hollow words, that is.

----
Custard, well said, in both posts.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 6:38:21 PM
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I'll believe any change in population policy when I see it, Ludwig, but the change in refugee policy is an improvement. Now the message to asylum seekers is "Dont pay criminals and risk your life on a dangerous voyage, because it will not give you a place ahead of other asylum seekers.". Wonderful to see some common sense. This action will protect asylum seekers, disadvantage people smugglers, and uphold the principle of treating people equally.
Posted by Fester, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 7:06:31 PM
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