Rudd is a Dud .
Think about him , what has he achieved ?

"Zombie"

(For Phillip Ruddock, in his coldness)

We call your name but once, fearing you’ve died
and risen far from home, where thoughts are lead
from one thing to another — while, for pride,
the enemy’s confined. And so it’s said:

"We call you, friend, but all echo has fled
your vale of song, where once the good man cried
for simple justice sake on the long ledge.
We call your name but once, fearing you’ve died

to us in life, and on the other side
(which science knows as nought, as though you bled
for nought) your fortune sought, and did decide,
and risen far from home, where thoughts are lead.

Such weight of metal, friend – breaker of bread
for any hungry soul – is deicide
itself (as well they know, who know the spread
from one thing to another) while, for pride

of rhetoric, those whom you locked outside
themselves and silent you, and yours is fled
from view — since only soulless you denied
the enemies confined." And so it’s said.

Mr Ruddock said

"The Rudd Government would have Australians believe that the pursuit of international co-operation is sufficient. The deployment of immigration officials and police abroad, dialogue with other nations and even advertising campaigns are not new strategies. The Howard government used them all. In reality, however, the only measures that worked were domestic in character. These included the return to Indonesia of a number of vessels destined for Australia, the implementation of the so-called Pacific solution with the co-operation of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, and humane mandatory detention for those who reached Australia."

This statement is simply is not backed by the evidence.

It is false to say "the only measures that worked were domestic in character". Cooperation with other nations was employed at the time and played a significant role in preventing the departure of boats from neighbouring countries. If it didn't work, as Mr Rudock now tries to suggest, why did the previous government continue to put money into this approach.

It is also a sick joke to say that the detention of refugees in Australia was "humane". There is ample evidence that it was brutal and damaging - which apart from not deterring further arrivals, served to chew up massive amounts of taxpayer money and make it far harder for people to settle quickly and start being productive members of our community once they were finally released.

All the Pacific Solution - locking people up on Nauru for up to 5 years - achieved was spending many millions of taxpayer dollars, damaging innocent people, sending some people back to direct danger in Afghanistan and perverting good governance in the Pacific. The majority of the people sent there eventually ended up being recognised as refugees and settling in Australia.

Responding to the movement of asylum seekers in our region is undoubtedly a difficult issue with no easy answers. But if we ignore the basic facts and simply make things up, we will never have a workable - let alone humane - response.

Only the Strong and Wise Provide .

It’s disappointing to find Ruddock, under whom illegal entry by boat was stopped, trying to widen his appeal by waffling on about people smugglers and “putting peoples lives a risk."

If it were not for people thinking that it’s OK for them to come to Australia illegally, informally, irregularly (whatever you want to call it) there would be no call for people smugglers. And, concerning ourselves with the lives of people dishonest enough to hire people smugglers to get them to Australia is just a way of trying to get acceptance from the bleeding-hearts. That’s the trouble with politicians: they think that they can eventually appeal to most people, when experience shows that very few people ever change their minds on any issue.

Rudd even echoes the latest Ruddism: “Border security was, is and always will be difficult public policy.”

Rubbish! It is illegal (despite the bleeding-hearts’ misinterpretation of the rules) for anyone to enter any country sneakingly and without documentation. It is illegal for people to overstay visas (there are said to be 49,000 of those cheats in Australia at the present time). It is up to the government of the day to do something about it, not to pose as ‘humane’ people while ignoring the best outlook and wishes of the people whom they represent and who pay them.

The only people with responsibility for the lives of illegals are the illegals themselves.

It is the responsibility of the government to turn these boats around. It is also the responsibility of the government to flush out visa over-stayers and send them back to wherever they came from.

It’s quite simple. But, as is often the case, politicians talk about ‘complexities’ to cover up their inability or unwillingness to do their jobs.

Their jobs! It is not the job of Indonesia to help out; they have enough problems of their own. It is the job of the Rudd Government to get tough with these country-shoppers: turn the boats back, and maintain raids on work places and haunts of visa-overstayers to ensure that Australia’s immigration is actually controlled by Australia.

>> It's disappointing to find Ruddock ... trying to widen his appeal

to widen his appeal, ruddock would need some appeal to begin with. i guess if one likes dishonest, fascistic thugs then he may be appealing. can't see any other attraction.