This whole issue is just so NOT black-and-white. There is a massive global diaspora going on, of oppressed or demonized minorities from all over, with Oz as a prime destination - good old stable, sparsely populated Great South Land, the Terra Nullius of old. They're 50 thousand years or so late, but the pathway remains for the bold, the strong, the determined.

Have we a right to block this age-old transmission of human occupation, just because we have it so good and we just don't want to share?

Maybe it would be great to take some minorities from here and there (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc), and maybe the 'boaties' would be a good place to start - since they would seem to be made of the 'right stuff'? But, how to manage an organised and manageable flow, without inducing a flood?

I think most of we freedom-loving, sun-loving, good old bronzed Aussies are heartily sick of the whole 'detention' approach, the 'off-shore' slight of hand, the psychological distress, self-harm, inmate abuse, rioting (from sheer desperation), the suicides and the deaths at sea.

We need a new, inclusive and comprehensive approach. No long term detention - approve bridging visas quickly, or return to sender, also quickly. Orderly arrangements with Indonesia. Foreign aid on a global scale to all displaced persons' or 'refugee' camps; massive determined diplomatic pressure on oppressive regimes - at risk of being deemed 'pariah' states, with whom no developed country would henceforth do business. Isolate, blockade, and undertake covert action to aid oppressed minorities to escape to safe harbour.

This problem is not going to go away; a new global 21st Century is emerging, a new kaleidoscope of 'culture'. Who are we (the developed world) to stand in the way of this new 'evolution' in human affairs?

Luciferase,

Did you read this buy Labor immigration minister circa 2008?

http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/speeches/2008/ce081117.htm

Why, if it was right Labor policy then, is it not right now?

Seeing that we have Mr Burke back now as Immigration minister.

I'm talking about "principles".

A couple of things wrong with what Hasbeen writes.

1. Labor are not “people of the left”'

2. A political promise that later gets broken in new circumstances is at worst a “political false promise”. Pollies do it all the time. Does anyone imagine Abbott has been telling the truth about his intentions?

3. A really treasonable lie would be to lie our country into war by bellowing a story that Blind Freddy could see was lies. Labor has never done that. Whenever the Libs bleat about “Labor lies” people need to be reminded it was Hitler, not Labor, that lied his country into invading Poland and (guess what party), not Labor, that lied OUR country into invading Iraq. That’s lying big time and no-one should be allowed to forget it.

Emperor Julian,

I'd call myself a lefty.

What do you reckon about 24 carat hypocrisy?

Here's a few quotes from Burke in 2008 - having wrested immigration fromthe LNP.

".....In the area of refugee policy the key themes running through the Labor platform are humanity, fairness, integrity and public confidence."

"Labor committed to abolishing the Pacific Solution and this was one the first things the Rudd Labor Government did on taking office. It was also one of my greatest pleasures in politics. Neither humane nor fair, the Pacific Solution was also ineffective and wasteful."

(My personal favourite)

"....the Howard government sought to outsource our international protection obligations to less developed countries when we should have been shouldering them ourselves."

" When we came to office there were people found to be refugees left rotting on Nauru because of a political decision taken by the former government to keep them there. I must say I was pleased to discover that the department were very keen to bring them to Australia quickly, and we did this in less than two months."

"......The Pacific Solution was not about maintaining integrity or public confidence in Australia’s arrangements. It was about the cynical politics of punishing refugees for domestic political purposes."

Principles?

If we let all of the Muslim population into Australia with their Sharia law via leaky boats then people like Marylin Shepherd may be in for a shock, having just returned from Dubai I was impressed with how Western they seemed to have become on the surface, but the Sharia laws are well and truly entrenched in the Emirates, men cannot swim at the beach on certain days with woman, never mention HIV-Aids deportation immediately if found out, women raped can lead to jail sentences for the women Marylin may like her husband having four or five wives and being subordinate to him, human rights are missing, don''t show affection in public, don't sleep in the same hotel if not married, and the list goes on, don' t think this came off the Internet Marylin we were told.
If Marylin wants Sharia law introduced dramatically, then I for one don't, all refugees must accept our way of life, why leave a country to get away from Sharia laws and create the same laws in Australia from the country you are escaping from.

Poirot, EJ,

On illegal immigrants, the coalition has had a consistent policy for a decade. Labor has not had one for a month.

With boat arrivals reaching new records since Dudd announced the PNG solution and now that Indonesia is initiating talks on towing back boats, so the last scrap of credibility that Labor has fallen away.

It is time this bunch of clowns labor calls government is swept away and a responsible government is installed.