Keith, I think you are mixing up levels of debate. RCOA is advocating for an increase in the numbers of people we take and they are not calling for boats to be pushed back at sea, they are not saying one human being is more valuable than another. In australia we currently have a quota system and I imagine RCOA's advocacy for that number is in terms of what might be realistically possible, having done their homework, given the political climate, etc. It will be tough to get any increase through at the moment. We haven't always had a quota system and in my article I mention that at one stage we couldn't get enough refugees for our own needs but at the moment this is the reality. There is a broader philosophical position that I may take but there is also the real politic of what it is possible to achieve in actual changes to policy. As I have said I will take any increase that is offered and the RCOA's recommended increase would be a good place to start for all these people who say they are so deeply concerned about the people in the camps. But unfortunately they are not often the ones helping these people.

I hope that is enough of an answer for you but to be fair, my article is not about the quota system.

Peter van onselen's article in today's Australian is in a similar vein http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/whos-afraid-of-4500-boatpeople/story-e6frg6zo-1225849056560 and it's worth reading Chris Evans speech to the Sydney Institute http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/speeches/2010/ce100324.htm

In the past thirty years I think we have only had about 20,000 or so people arriving by boat so it's hard to see that anything other than politics is driving the people wanting to have another debate on the subject right now, with an election on the way. I would much rather the national focus from both parties be on other issues that will effect the real lives of people, like disability. Susan

The West Australian reports that by 2020, 48% of Western Australians will be foreign born with many of them coming from Africa and the middle east.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/7016618/half-foreign-born-by-2020/
Is it too much to hope that this ugly, racist, white society will become a little more like Somalia and a lot more like Pakistan?
Only then will be truly multicultural and diverse.
Here's hoping.

Franklin, if there was a queue then people would wait in line. But the queue for most people goes nowhere - the front of the queue doesn't exist. So what would you do - sit and die, or beg and borrow to get enough money to get your children out in any way possible? I can't imagine most Aussies just waiting to die. Life is messy and some are luckier than others. We live in a country where money will buy you an easier life - maybe you believe we should take away much more from the rich in Australia, give them less access to hospitals? There are just as many tragic stories of people who have come on boats - single mothers with babies, old women, poor women whose distant relatives have borrowed the money to help them escape - widows whose children would have been taken by males if they had stayed. These people are human too and punishing them is not an answer, except for winning a few votes.

Proxy...have you ever been to WA?

It's full of whingeing Poms, being the closest point to the UK, and the cheapest place to get to.

So, as far as I can see it has been full of foreigners ever since white men landed there.

As for 'planning', I see Rudd has hastily pretended to create a population policy by appointing the very Roman Catholic Tony Burke as the 'population' minister.

What a larf... putting a no-condoms man in charge of population control... now that sounds like Rudd is SERIOUS, doesn't it?

We'll all be rooned.

The article in the West Australian actually states:

>>> "Research by prominent economic consultancy ACIL Tasman shows that WA will have 48 per cent foreign-born residents by 2020, a third of those from non-Anglo backgrounds."

But tragically, even with smarter and more industrious people moving there WA will still be a hole

Abbott squirmed his way through questions on his christianity and asylum seekers on Q and A last night, with a loaded Liberal audience. They started clapping at the sound of his voice. Jesus wouldn't have an open door for anyone who wanted to come to Australia says Abbott. But that's not the question. Jesus didn't turn away the poor and suffering, the reference Abbott was using was about merchants in a temple. Poor Jesus, he is getting spun so fiercely by people who claim to support him. Interesting that Abbott toned down his rhetoric dramatically for this audience. Would it be unchristian of me to wish that there be reincarnation so that everyone who turns people away will have a chance to be the turned away in a lifetime coming to them soon...