Bruce Haigh,

"We are a nation of volunteers; we give help where help is needed. We give generously to charitable causes including children in Third World countries. We encourage and applaud the underdog and we don’t kick a person when they are down."

That's what some of us were raised to believe......and now we find that it was just a mirage and (apparently) we're not really like that at all.

Obviously we pretended we were an altruistic bunch, but watch what happens when we're really pressed to come up with the goods - especially when the game changes to one on our doorstep.

I was born in the second half of last century - and I bought all that post-war guff - "boundless plains to share", etc.

What a crock I was sold.

Poirot,

You use the words “We are this and we are that”. Just because you are gullible doesn’t give you the right to speak for those who are not gullible.

Speak for yourself

spindoc,

You are right.

Some of us have given up trying to tie the current debate to any sense of decency...at least, the idea of decency which we were brought up to believe.

So, obviously I am speaking for "myself" who has, it appears, an extremely tenuous connection with most of the commenters on this forum.

Poirot
You Quoted Bruce Haigh, "We are a nation of volunteers; we give help where help is needed. We give generously to charitable causes including children in Third World countries. We encourage and applaud the underdog and we don’t kick a person when they are down."

That is a correct statement and you were not sold a crock.

There is a very good reason Aussies have little acceptance of the 'illegals'. We do not like to be conned and treated as fools. The illegals get here by bribery, fraud and lies. They pay far more than the normal commercial fare just so the can enter via the back fence. They gate crash our country and then lie to our officials with concocted stories, to take advantage of our generosity.

We have welcomed millions of immigrants from all over the world but we dislike cheats and con artists.

That is fair enough. We can hold our heads high on this issue.

Banjo,

You say...

"There is a very good reason Aussies have little acceptance of the 'illegals'. We do not like to be conned and treated as fools. The illegals get here by bribery, fraud and lies. They pay far more than the normal commercial fare just so the can enter via the back fence. They gate crash our country and then lie to our officials with concocted stories, to take advantage of our generosity."

That's your line.

That's the line of the pollies, employing this issue to get elected.

It may be a convenient line but it does not stack up against the evidence that nearly all these people are refugees and fleeing.

What it says about us is that we will embroider issues to conform with our idea of ourselves as altruistic and egalitarian....hence, the standard line that they're con artists, queue jumpers and economic migrants.

It lets us off the hook.

(.....and was ably demonstrated by Carr mouthing "economic migrants" at the top of his lungs as part of the softening up process to send men, women and children to a malarial camp)

@Poriot,

<<That's the line of the pollies, employing this issue to get elected>>

Yes, indeed, how dare they think that the will of the electorate should be accomodated!
Whoever heard of such an idea?

<<It may be a convenient line but it does not stack up against the evidence that nearly all these people are refugees and fleeing.>>

What evidence would that be Poriot?

Simple question: if they are for real, why do they destroy their papers?

(And, "they didnt have papers to begin with" is NOT a valid response.)