sentiment good. But ask Indonesia if they will run a centre again - no. Coalition and Labor have tried for years. Indonesia is just a furphy being brought up so that no-one has to do anything. And how is it humane to tell people they ahve to make it all the way to Indonesia to be processed? all the expert commentary is burying us

"Processing on Indonesian soil would eliminate people smugglers putting people on boats."

Only if one accepted everyone processed.

The ones not accepted would then get on the boats to get the 99% acceptance of the Australian courts.

The Greens have proven themselves to be completely politically inept on this matter. As have the other Parties as well but we already knew that.

Sarah Hanson-Young's "tears" were a smokescreen to cover the fact that their Party would rather hold on to their mad rhetoric than save lives.

An utterly hopeless mess created by the Labor Party and maintained by the Greens. Both will be obliterated at the next election. Thank god for democracy.

Oh Hell.

The fairies are getting together.

God knows what's likely to be going on down the bottom of the garden. Best barricade the garden path, who knows what could come of this.

While I agree that there needs to be an offshore solution I do not think that Indonesia is the best choice as it may well still involve risky boat journeys from Malaysia, Singapore, etc. It would be better done in Malaysia, if anywhere, only if the UNHCR was properly resourced and places like Australia were willing to increase their humanitarian intake. As Australia is the only nation within the SE Asian zone that is a signatory to the Refugee Convention this should have nothing to do with the practicalities of humane and safe refugee processing.

However, this presumes that we can somehow de-politicise the Department of Immigration which fulfills its political role by pretending to process refugee applications but actively works to deny visas to those coming from "the wrong" countries, i.e. those places that people from western Sydney and western Melbourne in marginal seats do not like, whether they be Hazaras from Afghanistan or Tamils from Sri Lanka or Karens or Rohingya from Burma. Politicians and the Department of Immigration staff know that they "have" to keep these people out because of the political costs of telling the public the truth.

The real truth is that getting on a boat and getting to Christmas Island or even the mainland may be the only way to get anything even resembling a fair hearing. It would be simpler, cheaper and far more humane send over some officials and a couple of Jumbo Jets and bring these people back safely. Whether fleeing political, ethnic or religious persecution or fleeing extreme poverty, these people, for the most part, would be considered genuine refugees.

As for the anti-immigrants, could I suggest you check your own family history. I come from a mix of convict stock and those seeking a better life than they were experiencing in England; how much different is that to the experiences of any other so-called "economic refugee"?

Perhaps it could be said that we brought these problems on ourselves. In the 1950s we insisted that Britain transfer both Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Australia. What use have they been? Just problems - not withstanding hints from the US that they might be strategically useful! If they were still a British responsibility would they (the Brits) be more persuasive with the Indonesians?! If not, the boat people would then have to seek a passage via Timor and/or perhaps PNG. From PNG, if they survived, it would be easy to enter Queensland!