We should take a lesson from East Germany and build a wall all around Australia. Look how well that worked… oops, sorry, they were trying to get out. Oh well, can’t be right all the time.

Why don't we run a bi-monthly fast ferry service from an agreed Indonesian port; to Christmas Island? That would put the people smugglers out of business; given, our fare structures would be a lot lower; and our ship; seaworthy; and, a lot safer!
The catch would be, the intending immigrants would have to allow their claims to be fully tested by medically assisted space age lie detection equipment! These checks could be carried in tandem with mandatory health checks.
Good moral character ought to be mandatory!
Anyone who has engaged in drug trafficking or prostitution; or, lived of the earnings of either, has to be rejected for permanent settlement. I mean, if it's good enough for our fellow Anzac kiwi cousins; to be automatically rejected for any and or all criminal behaviour!?
Once all that was satisfactorily completed; the intending immigrants, could be issued with bridging visas; fitted with mandatory ankle bracelets; and, sent to willing employers; and, placed on the same waiting list; as those waiting their legitimate turn in migrant camps. It might seem heartless, but, irregular arrivals ought to be obliged to become citizens, before family reunion is possible.
As for un-returnable Iranians? I'd return those we automatically reject by shipping them to the straights of Homuz and setting them adrift in small rubber boats, with enough food and water for a fortnight!
Others , willing to undertake voluntary repatriation; could be offered a cash settlement equivalent, with what it would cost us to incarcerate them for 2-3 years? Can't died in a cornfield over a century ago. Humane? Always! A soft touch preyed on by con artists? Never!

Regional co-operation is just another couple of words for "not here".

Why Sev is writing this as a "solution" is beyond me because the "solution" is to stop governments from all corners of the world persecuting their citizens so they can stay home but that is la la land stuff.

As we cannot legally demand any other nation on earth do our work for us why do these prattling old men have to keep prattling.

The way we treat people here is the point, and Sev has forgotten that people are refugees when they leave, not when they arrive here.

Maybe the only solution to the boats is to put all such arrivals immediately on a plane back to Indonesia (or other point of departure) - No Questions Asked! That should make them think twice. (If Indonesia is recalcitrant about this, just put the question; Why didn't they stop the boats departing their shores in the first place?)

Sev's bleeding heart is all well and good, with all the pie in the sky of a regional processing framework, but the reality is we have to stop people coming, not increasing our intake - unless we, the people, determine otherwise. I for one am not amused by our Gov unilaterally deciding to increase our 'refugee' intake. I suppose the next step will be a 'refugee levy'?

People without papers? Is it time we all got an ID Implant?

It is time for a world order, for an end to Capitalism for its own sake but rather as a mechanism for world development (within sustainable constraints) to put an end to massive inequity and to enable developing nations to become fully self-sustainable, and to educate with pupose of reducing population, and to put an end to violent conflict - which is all based on power and greed. It is time!

Sitting here reading the posts, I was reminded of an event that occurred in 1953. My parents had adopted a baby boy born 1951.

My brother was the youngest child of a woman who had escaped from behind the iron curtain at the height of the Cold War.

My mother had shown the adoption papers to a person from the mother's country.

He became upset and agitated at seeing the names of the parents on the piece of paper. The names on the documents were those of well known political and freedom fighters in the country the mother had fled from. The mother had a large family she left behind and adopted the child out so she could return to help them. Sound like a fairy tale, but sadly for some people it is true.

He begged my mother not to show it to anyone else. He suggested she destroy the papers or at least deposit them in a bank account. The man was also a refugee himself.

I believe we have to be in the position of refugees before we can understand the desperate need for secrecy the have,

Hasbeen, there is no such thing as an illegal immigrant in Australia, there are just people without visas and there is no law broken for not having those visas.

And Salt, you say the same thing year in and year out. We cannot expel anyone at all without due process of the law.

Didn't you hear the high court just 4 months ago or do you choose to pretend you didn't hear.