Australia has had a successful Business Migration scheme that allows cashed up foreigners the opportunity to invest in Australia as part of their right to live and work here. Australia should be attracting the best and brightest without necessarily charging them $50,000 for the visa. The system will be quickly corrupted if people can pay with borrowed or suspicious money.

David,

The only problem is that Australia would have to withdraw from the UNHCR charter of which it is a founder member.

The problem of illegal boats has been solved, and we can now move on.

SM, I'd suggest that claiming the problem is solved is a little optimistic. Leaving aside the ethics of the current solution history demonstates all to clearly how a change in government can change the outcomes. It's clear that the current "solution" has plenty of scope to be a political football. Probably any solution will have some of that potential but the current solution leaves a lot of people with genuine concerns even if they did/do want the boats stopped.

Its worth exploring alternatives that don't involve keeping the navy tied up, alternatives to running prison camps (or paying our neighbours to run them for us), alternatives that don't involve a great temptation to get into old fishing boats to get to Austalia, alternatives that don't involve responsibility for us when things go wrong.

R0bert

...What a stupid idea: Australia is already host to way too many Chinese drug runners who live here legitimately, through such unworkable and opportunistic schemes proposed and implemented by naive elites!

...Get your feet back on the ground!

R0bert,

With nearly 6 months since the last boat arrival, this is the lowest arrival rate since 2000. The activity of the navy is drastically reduced now they are not acting as a water taxi, numbers of detainees are dwindling and camps are closing.

Boat arrivals have been solved, cleaning up Labor's mess will take a little longer.

Such crass ignorance. Is this what we are to expect from Senator elect Leyonhjelm in Canberra? Might I suggest advice is sought on what constitutes a refugee from the Parliamentary Library.
Bruce Haigh