Congratulations on having the courage to speak up for a more humane refugee policy.
I wish you every success.

Er, maybe the reason there has been a decrease in asylum seekers to Australia is BECAUSE the immigration system is the way it is. Maybe if people don't want to be in the system, they should not come to Australia illegally. Australia has a generous immigration to legal immigrants - if you want to come here, do it properly.

I think the recent Federal election shows the electorate's support for the current immigration system. Plenty of other countries wish their immigration system was as successful as Australia.

It is possible to find some hard cases where people spend years in detention and are then found to be refugees, just as there are undoubtedly some innocent people in our prisons. However, the vast majority of refugees were released within a few weeks or months, so they would not be affected by Mr. Georgiou's proposals except for getting permanent residency. What makes these proposals the illegal immigrant's charter is the 12 month limit on detention. If the Immigration Department can't prove where an illegal immigrant falsely claiming asylum came from or if his home country refuses to take him back against his will, then he merely needs to wait out the 12 months, then be released to enjoy all the benefits of life in a First World country. No doubt he will tell his friends and relatives back home about it so they too can come and claim asylum.

Do we really want the huge numbers of such people that they have in Europe and America, such as the 87,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Britain in 2002, not counting dependants, only about 1 in 5 of whom were found to be refugees. I'm sorry for the world's poor too, but the solution to their poverty problems will ultimately have to come from them through making tough reforms and cultural changes, including bringing numbers into balance with resources, just like in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. Mr. Georgiou's real responsibility is to the disadvantaged Australians who will be displaced by the illegal aliens he is determined to encourage.

And now for the preselection battle for your seat Petro. I am sure that Costello will be looking for a branchstack to oust you for being a decent human being. Andrew Bolt has even been mentioned, so good luck with defeating them.

"Do we really want the huge numbers of such people that they have in Europe and America,"

This has never occurred in the past and will never occur. Australia is far too difficult and dangerous to get to. The myth of a flood of refugees is one of the ways that Howard has intimidated the population into voting for him.

"I'm sorry for the world's poor too"

Not sorry enough to inconvenience yourself, though, or even <gasp> take a small drop in your standard of living.

"but the solution to their poverty problems will ultimately have to come from them through making tough reforms and cultural changes, including bringing numbers into balance with resources, just like in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea."

Actually, the solution is more likely to come from allowing poor countries to leverage their main asset: cheap labour. Unfortunately, rich countries prevent them from doing this through tarrif protection of uncompetative industries, and manipulation of poor economies through the IMF and World Bank.

"Mr. Georgiou's real responsibility is to the disadvantaged Australians who will be displaced by the illegal aliens he is determined to encourage. "

I challenge you to provide evidence of Australians who will be "displaced". What do you even mean by "displaced"?

Dave

I have got to say there is nothing more pathetic than that petition that online opinion is holding on mandatory detention. It looks like online opinion are pushing an agenda, and will rig the results to suit that agenda. Pathetic.

Refugees in detention centres has become a rallying point for the hopelessly naive, people without a clue and those who should go out and live in the real world