Nothing to do with cows and kids.

It's all about politics and catering to Howard's battlers.

Labor is attempting to move further to the right than Howard ever did to appease the shock jock mob.

Wouldn't matter if it was budgies and bogans. As long as the moronic political duopoly could use them for political purposes they would.

Hi, I'm just reposting (more or less) this comment I put up on Jennifer Wilson's blog the other day:

These are the lengths that the government is going to to retain control of the asylum-seeker situation: not only are they denying a group of highly marginalised adults and children their human rights, they are selling out Australia's children in order to do so.

Last month there was a Senate inquiry report into whether an independent Commissioner for Children should be established – who among other things would act as guardian for unaccompanied minors. Unfortunately the committee found that there was still too much disagreement on exactly what role the Commissioner would take on, and how the position would avoid duplicating functions currently performed by the state and territory Commissioners. The recommendation was that, while there is a lot of merit in having such a Commissioner, the position shouldn’t be created at this time due to these technical difficulties.

Even though the Department of Immigration and Citizenship stated that they were aware of a perceived conflict of interest in the Minister’s joint role as both guardian and jailer, they – along with FaHCSIA and Attorney-Generals – were the only party present at the hearing to directly oppose establishing the Commissioner position, and pushed the “workability” problem for all it was worth - while the other submissions were more optimistic that a solution could be reached. Meanwhile the Minister chose not to offer a submission at all and is sticking to the line that, since the National Framework for Australia’s Children does not require a final decision on a Commissioner until September 2012, we’re all just going to have to jolly well wait until then!

So in addition to the kids in detention facing the prospect of being sent to Malaysia, the administrative “arrangements” are being manipulated to such an extent that, it appears that in order to ensure Chris Bowen maintains final say over the lives of unaccompanied minors, Australian children are being left without an independant coordinating authority, and all the benefits that could bring.

Ammonite; you do of course realize that almost every single refugee we receive actually stops over at multiple countries to make their way here?
They don't actually run and run till they come to the nearest boat at their country's border and set sail- first stop Australia; (especially considering most of these countries are surrounded by many other countries before they even find one that is not land-locked- and even then must usually pass several countries directly between their point of departure and Australia).
And in most cases they keep up with the news (particularly trying to access the news sources of the country they are trying to sneak into).

Ultimately their chances of receiving wind of some of these developments is quite high once they are outside their own country.

Children would never be placed in a vulnerable situation if parents didnt put them there. Illegal immigrant children have been exposed to slavery, serious illness or wounding or worst of all death.It isn't so much for the good of the children to have a better future which the parents can't be sure of but in the hope that if they got to Australia the refugee advocates and bleedin heart parasites would make enough noise to get them, the parents, also accepted. Then would follow application from parents to join these children. It is politicisation of the most callous and heartless kind. Children being used in the form of emotional blackmail.
In Australia children are removed from environments and put into child care and the state made custodians of the children.
Sure it is sad to see the illegals in such parlous state but please keep in mind how they came to be there.
It is NOT Australia's responsibility.

socratease

Jenny, I was brought up in very serious poverty. My mother was an unwed mother when there was no "unmarried mother's pension." She kept herself and me by working in very badly paid jobs while renting rooms from pensioners. She waited six years for a Housing Commission flat after being assessed as a person "most in need" of accomodation.

When my mother and I moved into our new flat, our total belongings consisted of a TV set, a folding card table, and an ironing board. We slept on the concrete floor.

We met our new neighbours who were British migrants. They had plenty of money, plenty of nice furniture, and they had only waited only two years for their Housing Commision flat. I will never forget what my mother said on hearing this. She said that "the bloody government thinks more about foreigners than they do their own people."

And I make that charge at you, Jennifer. You think more about foreigners than you do your own. You have no right to call yourself an "Australian" and I hereby disassociate myself of any concern I should have for your welfare. You are just another Internationalist who thinks it is smart to pee on your own people while championing every body else's people. And I might also point out that too many of those people that you are championing are a bunch of criminal ingrates who Centrelink is paying to rob us, rape us, and to sell drugs to our kids.

I see exactly the same situation of foreigners getting preferential treatment today with black families living in new houses in the St Mary's- Penrith area of Sydney, while the unemployable black fathers hang around the front of the Mt Druitt shopping centre. Meanwhile, my aged pensioner cousin and her cancer affected husband, who have both worked and paid taxes all of their lives, seek any sort of cheap accomdation in order to survive.

All of your self righteous blatherings about compassion for poor foreigners elicits two fingers full of righteous indignation from me. In Australia, Australians come first.

The question of how unaccomapnied minors find the $20,000 dollars to pay the people smugglers, seems to have been glossed over. The truth in almost every case is that their parents are paying the fee in the hope that their child will gain asylum, and then sponsor the rest of the family to come over as well.

Lets just examine that for a second. These people place their children in the hands of people smugglers, where they are vulnerable to abuse and neglect. They risk the lives of their children by sending them across the ocean in unseaworthy boats. The children then need to negotiate the asylum process, all the while living in detention with the all the violence and misery that entails. They can often wait years before they are reunited with their parents.

Why do the parents do it??

Because its a very good way of getting asylum for your family, especially if you can only raise 1 boat fare.

The bleeding heart crew, who have most vociferously opposed the processing of unaccomapnies children in Malaysia, don't care that their policies will create more suffering, and place more children in danger. They don't care that the best way of ensuring that children are not endangered in this way is to close the loophole in the system that rewards such behaviour.

It seems to me that the only solution is to

1) locate the parents of unaccompanied minors and immediately send the children back to them,
or
2) if we are unable to find them quickly, we should place them in protective care but ensure that their parents/adult siblings can NEVER get permanent residence.

Either way we deter parents from risking their childrens health, safety and emotional wellbeing in this way.