I thought only Gypsies had crystal balls Graham?
I've got an interesting new idea. Why don't we set aside the endless rhetoric and give this idea a try.
The Malaysian solution was rejected, only because, we were told, it was not a UNHR signatory.
And we were informed, all labour needed to get the coalition on side, was a signatory country.
Reinstate the pacific solution bellowed the coalition, even though credible expert opinion advised it would't work!
As events have unfolded, the expert opinion has been thoroughly validated!
And that is all down to the Labour party.
Why?
Well, they did roll over and beg for a tummy rub from the coalition on this one, and that's why they are responsible for current outcomes, including all subsequent drowning.
I can't see towing the boats back being even well thought through let alone workable policy?
I mean, you'd need to very big ships to tow back sinking or sunken boats.
And we can't unload rescued people back in transit countries, once they are on board, under our flag and therefore our sole legal responsibility!
It's not a military problem, (women armed only with suckling infants and very young children) and therefore, it doesn't require a military solution, or scarce military resources tied up, in work more appropriately handled by humanitarian means/political dialogue, and civilian service personal/customs.
All around the world signatory nations are honouring their obligations, with tent accommodation and very basic services.
We owe asylum seekers no more that that!
And therefore, a more developed Mannus Island, is all the safe sanctuary we are obliged to provide.
If that then causes people to change their travel plans or intending destinations, that would probably self identify them as genuine economic migrants seeking economic outcomes; as opposed to those fleeing for their lives, and only seeking sanctuary!
Rhrosty

Oh for thoughtful right wing thought or is that an oxymoron for this site.
If they’re not pulling the no true Scotsman argument, they just being plain racist.
Labour is treading a hard path. Dr no is always going to have an easy path on this.
One he doesn't actual have to do anything
Two he knows there is no centre right votes up for grabs at the moment.
Where will be Tony’s fanboys if he lies his way into government and can’t fix anything.

Kenny, I would have thought people of the left would be avoiding that word "lie" in all it's forms, for about the next ten years.

The moment any hears it they immediately think Gillard [no carbon tax}, & Rudd [I will not challenge for the leadership] & then of course, Labor.

It's not border protection as some here think, it is destroying the lives of innocent people who need protection. Are people here aware that while we spend billions trading, trafficking and jailing refugees and guarding the tiny coast of Christmas Island there is no surveillance whatsoever on 60,000 km of mainland coast.

That means every navy in the world could sail in and we couldn't do a thing about it.

It is not people smuggling, surely to god after all these years with only Australia conflating seeking asylum with the method of transport with seeking asylum there are some dimwits in our media who could be bothered with facts.

And this incessant bleating and whinging over a few thousand people in the face of 6.5 million extra refugees and displaced people last year alone is deranged beyond measure.

What on earth is wrong with you ridiculous people and why do ridiculous pollsters treat refugees as an issue in the first place?

They are not a tax dodge or tax raising measure, they are human beings with the same rights as you.

Now just grow the hell up and shut up.

Maybe I'm as thick as two planks, or maybe I've missed something on the news, but I am puzzled why one option isn't ever mentioned:

'Boat-people' from Indonesia have left Indonesia intending to enter another country, Australia, but without filling out all the usual exit papers, or submitted all the usual entry papers for Australia. Technically they are still 'in' Indonesia.

If a boat is intercepted on the high seas, with the clear intention of making landfall on Australian territory, then they have left Indonesia in an irregular fashion.

Negotiations with Indonesian authorities would therefore be vital to organise the return of people who have tried to exit Indonesia with incomplete papers, back to Indonesia, and it would be appropriate to compensate Indonesia for the time and trouble that this may cause them.

So, if 'boat-people' are temporarily taken to Christmas Island, given thorough health checks, etc., made comfortable, and then flown back to their point of departure in Indonesia, no-one has to be disadvantaged.

The costs of the time and trouble caused to Indonesian authorities may amount to, say, one hundred thousand dollars per person, or ten or twenty million dollars per plane-load. The people concerned would simply be restored to the situation from which they left, no recriminations, and with the right to apply for entry into Australia in the standard way. And to go to the back of the queue, behind all those in 300,000-strong desert tent-camps in Kenya, etc., who have been waiting for ten years or more.

And if people realised that there was no point going to Indonesia, in order to get to Australia, the flow of people TO Indonesia would dry up: after all, once one has applied to come to Australia and joined the queue, it probably doesn't matter where one was in the world.

Or am I missing something ?

Joe

Yes Loudmouth, you are missing commonsense, brains, logic and heart. ASylum seekers don't have to fill out reams of paper work and even if they did have to we would not let them and as Indonesia has no refugee laws what papers would they be?

You live in a fat, selfish country ruled by papers, Afhgans and Iraqis in particular have had their lives and countries blown to bits by us, how many papers do you think they have left?

It's not about paperwork, it's about protecting people and we just can't be bothered to do it but expect that everyone else will.