There appears to be a clique of usually well heeled and privileged people in Australia who think that anyone who wants to come to Australia should simply come here and the Australian people should be hapy with that. This author seems to be among them.

If this author was really concerned about the plight of persecuted people, he would at least mention that far too many of the people claiming asylum are simply economic migrants who want to live in a Western country and they don't care who they have to lie to to do it, nor if they have to break our laws to get in here.

By swamping our kind hearted refugee programs, these people are beneath contempt, and are replacing genuine refugees who have been waiting in the queue. the fact tht this author pretends that this is not happening is proof to me that he is another one who wants the entire third world to immigrate to Australia and turn Australia into a third world country full of third world people, third world problems, third world pioverty, and third world crime rates.

The question begs, why do people wish to destroy the very society they choose to live in?

This bloke again.

Question. Have any of his fearless forecasts ever come to pass.

QED.

Thank you Bruce for highlighting the fundamental nature of the Australian government (of both types) to a huge humanitarian problem. Neither the Coalition nor Labor accept that their policies have played no small part in creating the problem in the first place. Illegal invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq created huge refugee problems. The current support for the so-called "rebels" in Syria are creating further huge problems of which refugees are an integral component.

One aspect that I find particularly disturbing is the blithe disregard for international law that permeates the body politic. As you point out, what Morrison et al are doing is contrary to not only international law but also treaties to which Australia is a party.

Unfortunately it is probably the case that most Australians think like Lego and Hasbeen, a contemptuous disregard for notions of law and accountability, and an ever willingness to attack with ad hominen arguments and spurious straw men arguments.

This government has taken only weeks to show its true colours. It is reflexively undemocratic and while Morrison is a particularly conspicuous example he is by no men's the only one.

James O'Neill, "One aspect that I find particularly disturbing is the blithe disregard for international law that permeates the body politic"

What about the international maritime law that allows and in fact makes it a duty of governments to intercept people smuggling by sea?

What about the duty of a government in this case the Indonesians to act against it own Indonesian flagged vessels and crews who are involved in illegal activities?

What about Indonesia's internally recognised responsibility and duty, to accept back their human cargoes? How obvious is that where an Australian vessel has had to rescue within Indonesia's own territory and in easy sight of its shores?

What are Indonesia's many patrol boats doing in the North when some ought be directed to the South?

'Do Gooders' who cherry pick and draft their factoids are in fact 'Do Badders' who give oxygen to the criminal gangs involved in the noxious business of people smuggling.

you get the feeling that many on the left are hoping desperately that Abbott will fail (forget about their 'compassion' for the drowned). They hate the fact that only one boat in 3 weeks. What a breath of fresh air since the last mob.

The Abbott government is doing just that..GOVERNING so all you red green yellow prats who never picked up a gun in defense of your country and will never when the "brothers" march into your house lay down in the mire of your infamy.

Thanks LEGO for leaving us with that very insightful and provocative rhetorical question.. not sure where you were going with any of it.

Nevertheless, the entire article was in reference to people arriving by boat to Australian shores so let's have that discussion. 91% of asylum seekers that arrive by boat will be granted refugee status. That is, 9 out of 10 people in offshore detention are legitimate refugees escaping a genuine fear of persecution.

This idea you have of people waiting in a queue is a myth. There is no queue. This is not the Medicare line.. It is a lottery. People in detention can be detained indefinitely. The unfortunate reality is that we treat these people worse than many serial sex offenders. If any one of us had been incarcerated for escaping war, torture or political persecution with no timeline as to how long you were being locked up for, some for 5 years.. Hell, I would be looking for another way as well.

The government will decrease our humanitarian intake to 13000 within the next year (almost half the amount under the previous government). Of that number only say 3000-4000 will be asylum seekers, the majority will be made up of humanitarian resettlements from refugee camps abroad (SHP) that will conveniently fit our skilled labour shortages and spousal entrants.

There are 2 million Syrian refugees. Alone.

This will not stop the boats but encourage more people to get on them because they have less chance of getting accepted through normal channels... Its only gonna cost you more doe.

Now as the 'privileged' person you are to live in this great country, my rhetorical question to you is, why do you feel the need to have such a strong view on something that really doesn't effect you at all apart from the 12 million bucks we are forking out on a solution that everyone with half a brain could see was going to win an election but was never gonna actually solve the issue? Remember stopping the boats is not the issue - merely masking the symptom. As long as there are wars there will be people escaping from them.

Stopping the boats was an election promise - but did the boats affect you before? The same way as the budget being in deficit affected you before, right? Do we sleep better at night knowing that we have turfed a bunch of humans off to third world country and told them that they will never get a chance to live in peace, but instead subjected to further injustices in another third world country, PNG, where 66% of females experience sexual violence and where we also accept asylum seekers from?

This is a global issue not an Australian issue, don't be caught up in parochial political rhetoric. Don't buy into the fear campaign, where you feel you have to defend your God given right to live in this country by taking up arms (Chrisgaff). This is not about letting everyone in, don't use extremes.. use common sense. It could be any one of us in their situation. Heck it still could be if relations with Indonesia deteriorate any further...

But seriously, for this to have manifested into the political issue it has become is a joke. Surely time and money is better spent on advancing our education system, alleviating poverty, assisting homegrown producers, closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

Perhaps one day, just like the Marbo decision has become ingrained in our hearts as a win for the little guy, we will someday have the Mohammad decision... Because let's face it people, we have been here before. Let's hope history absolves us all... again.. feeling the vibe?

I guess when its all said and done, would you do the same to protect your family?

Just one little question Force.

Would you please explain how all these people who have fled in fear of their lives, can then go "home" for a visit, to get a nice cousin for a wife.

"They hate the fact that only one boat in 3 weeks. What a breath of fresh air since the last mob."

Thanks, runner.

But, ooh...er....what's this?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/12/asylum-seeker-boat-thought-to-be-carrying-somalians-arrives-in-darwin

"An asylum seeker boat arrived in Darwin on Monday night carrying an unknown number of people, Guardian Australia has learned.

It is believed that the asylum seekers are being held at the Blaydin alternative place of detention near Darwin, according to multiple sources.

The passengers are thought to be from Somalia and include children. Blaydin alternative place of detention is a centre for families."

Of course, Morrison will reckon it's a real bummer.

It's so much harder too "hide the boats" when they lob up on the mainland.

Dear Mr Force

You really should get your head out of the comic books and pick up a quality newspaper like "The Australian" from time to time in order to bone up on a few facts. Your premise is that 90% of the people lobbing into Australian soil in order to declare their undying allegiance to the Australian social security system are genuine refugees.

Three articles in "The Australian" renounce that. One was about the sacking of Australian immigration officials in the Immigration Department who found too many refugee claimants to be invalid. Another was written by an immigration official who lamented that while approving refugee claims could be done in minutes and generated little paperwork, denying any claim increased workloads immensely and generated a mountain of expensive legal paper work. Finally, there was an article only a few weeks ago, which claimed that the tens of thousands of new asylum claims were being processed by only a handful of new Immigration Officers.

The intent of the people now barging into Australia is to swamp our system of controls and that is exactly what they are doing. Applying for asylum only costs $30 dollars, and in Asia this is known as "Australia's $30 dollar work visa."

But I am sure that you already know this.

You are just another one who wants to end world poverty by having the entire third world hop on a boat and go to the first world. What is your self interest here? Do you hail from one of these countries yourself and hope that you can bring your entire village with you? Or are you another trendy lefty with a compulsive psychological need to think that you are smarter and morally superior to the Great Unwashed, and you think that selling out your own people and destroying your own society is the height of intellectual attainment?

Mabo and Whitlam destroyed this country

It wasn't Mabo's fault chrisgaff1000.

It was those judges again, applying what was genuine cultural practices from the Torres Straight islands, & PNG beyond, to the mainland aboriginal population, where they had never applied.

This generated enormous problems for so many with land rights claims, & was a very nice on going earner for the legal profession.

A very large & increasing part of our problems in Oz is down to activists judges, creating law from their privileged positions, which does not effect the elites, but creates considerable problems for the general population,.

Hasbeen,
Sorry mate you obviously have no knowledge about Eddie Mabo.
Mabo was a pedophile and banished from Murray Island and his lands confiscated under local cultural law for his offenses which occurred with children on the beach.
He moved to Townsville where a lot of Murray Islanders lived and worked on the railway. He was made redundant and got a job at the University as a gardener.
He got cancer and had a few months to live.
He complained to the head of the Law facility (Townsend) that he wanted to be buried in his own land which had been confiscated.
Townsend went to court on his behalf to have the confiscation reversed.
The whole issue ballooned into the crap we have today.
Mabo got to be buried on the island but only after political and police intervention and he is buried well away from the village because the island people still hate him.
I know because I had the job of keeping the vandals away from his grave.
Eddie Mabo wasn't a herp he was a parasite that the government used to push its own barrow.