Rhian, I have explicitly stated my only concern is of people with mindsets incompatible with a secular moderate western country such as ours (which is primarily, fundamentalist Muslims).
As such, I neither care under whether they arrive by boat or plane, and I have little problem with boat arrivals who were moderate and secular, and that aside- have some willingness to integrate.
(And that very much includes Muslims who are SECULAR)
And no, I'm not just adding that to be politically correct- the secularism is important to me).

In fact, I don't think anyone is actually singling out the boats except the politicians and the media- I would gander that most voters in support of border policy were willing to keep Islamic fundamentalists out, and the pollies and media know it.

Whether they tar the brush on all Muslims is based on their lack of exposure to non-fundamentalists to inform them otherwise. But quite frankly, for those that are fundamentalists (to the point where another cartoon printout would cause an uproar) are not good citizens and should not be dumped next to some poor schmuck in Australia- to have to tiptoe around in case he offends them by his everyday business (of course, arrivals who hold others in contempt are unlikely to show consideration back).
REGARDLESS of their reasons for coming.

But my previous post stood to demonstrate how little value potential migrants (ESPECIALLY fundamentalists) have for the society they move to beyond material gain, security and luxury.
In other words, Amicus' point that you were replying to is actually quite a truthful occurrence.

King Hazza

Fair enough – I disagree with you, but acknowledge you are not generalising about all Muslims or all boat people in the same way Amicus appears to be.

I do agree that extreme Islamic fundamentalism is not compatible with Western liberal democracy (as indeed is true of other extreme fundamentalisms, including Christian, Marxist, nationalist etc).

I really don’t see that this is an issue in Australia in the same way it has become in some European countries. I also think that people coming here by boat are usually trying to escape extremism, not import it

Bring back Temporary protection visas. These meet the requirements of the treaty, and prevent abuse of the system.

Off shore processing in Nauru will also stop the waste of billions of dollars in legal fees by preventing their access to our courts.

It is appropriate that Jennifer -- who has shown herself to be very particular about the use of words—cites the Tampa affair, since it well illustrates how words can mis-colour perceptions.

Here’s the core Tampa facts:
On August 26, the Tampa traveling from the Australian port of Fremantle to Singapore…. intercepted a stricken Indonesian vessel and took aboard 433 people.

The pick-up occurred within the Indonesian rescue zone. And Indonesia had agreed to accept the rescued.

The Tampa’s captain, set course for the port of Merak on the Indonesian island of Java,
but [ from Wikipedia]
“About half an hour after the Tampa had set sail toward Indonesia, a delegation of five asylum seekers visited the bridge to demand passage to Australian territory, specifically Christmas Island, or any western country. The group was quite aggressive and agitated and Rinnan agreed to alter course for Christmas Island. When interviewed by UK newspaper The Observer, Rinnan explained: "A delegation of five men came up to the bridge. They behaved aggressively and told us to go to Australia. They said they had nothing to lose."
And [ from A Harvard University publication]
.” Their demand was “either take us to Christmas Island or go to any Western country.” With his crew of Thirteen vastly outnumbered; the captain turned the ship about, and headed for Christmas Island.

But here’s is the sanitised version which Jennifer links to :
“On 26 August 2001, in response to a Mayday signal from a ship in international waters, the Australian Government sent a plea to nearby vessels to conduct a search and rescue mission. The Tampa, a Norwegian cargo ship, responded to the call.After a four hour journey, the Tampa discovered the Palapa; a 35 metre Indonesian fishing boat with 438 asylum seekers on board. The Palapa had been heading to Christmas Island and the passengers were planning to claim refugee status in Australia, but they had encountered a storm and the boat was falling apart.

The asylum seekers asked to be taken to Christmas Island and the master of the ship, Arne Rinnan, took them as far as he could before he was forbidden to enter Australian waters.Canberra did not want any more asylum seekers in Australia and they held to several arguments: to protect the nation's sovereignty; that our detention centres were full; that these people might not be genuine refugees and after 11 September, that there could be terrorists among them.The asylum seekers were kept on the hot deck of the Tampa with up to 15 people unconscious at one time, not enough toilets, on hunger strike, with skin diseases, diarrhoea, three pregnant women, one broken leg, several suffering from hypothermia and 46 children.
Rinnan waited outside the territorial waters with the health situation on board deteriorating for three days until he decided that he had to get to Christmas Island.”

Note:
1) The confrontation of the bridge is now edited to : “ The asylum seekers ASKED to be taken to Christmas Island” .
2) The very Grimmian : “ but they had encountered a storm and the boat was falling apart” and “The master of the ship” and “ forbidden to enter” .
3)The incongruity that the asylum seekers had embarked on the journey on a much smaller vessel with fewer facilities but when they boarded the much larger Tampa, overcrowding suddenly becomes a matter of life, death and human rights.

The word “Grim” which Jennifer uses in her heading is indeed appropriate -- but Grimm with two Ms

At the conclusion of the Grimm saga we find those who paid a small fortune for illegal passage ,and intimated the captain and crew of their rescue ship come out smelling of roses—and get to live happily ever after.

For those think such fairy tales sagas can only happen once . I suggest the saga of the Oceanic Viking -- same plot, and even some of the same lines “Christmas Island, or any western country”, but different cast & crew.

Oh, Shadow Minister, I was wondering where you were.

Of course you are quite right - although the last lot of asylum seekers sent to Nauru were found to be refugees and resettled in Australia.