The claim by this author that Indonesia does not have the means to stop the boats was negated weeks ago by the statement from an Australian admiral that Indonesia had 150 patrol boats, all of them based in the north of Indonesia where they do little, instead of putting some in the South where they can prevent Indonesians boats and crew committing criminal acts against Australia.

What this author fails to appreciate is that the Indonesian government is Muslim , they are still rightfully sore at Australia for encouraging separatism in Indonesia over east Timor, and if they can make life difficult for us, they will.

The more social problems that Indonesia can create in Australia, and the more Muslims they can allow to settle in Australia, the better for Indonesia. It is time to realise that our neighbour is a hostile state intent on doing us harm and the sooner we stop sucking up to them with our monetary aid and good intentions, the better.

Refusing to take back illegal immigrants which the Indonesian government has allowed to land in it's territory and who have been rescued by Australian patrol boats in Indonesian waters is unacceptable to the Australian people. it is not quite an act of war but it is a measure of their contempt for us.

Time for our radio operators to start relaying any calls of distress received from vessels in Indonesian search & rescue waters back to Indonesian authorities.

Our navy should only respond to any calls for assistance from official Indonesian authorities. In such a situation they could not refuse to take those picked up.

Meanwhile it is a fair bet that those Indonesians skimming the majority off the profits off the illegal boat people trade, are the same ones skimming off the majority of the aid we give Indonesia. A definite promise that continued aid depends on all illegal boats being stopped, & then followed through, would see the boats stopped damn quick.

I suppose this is too simple for our bureaucrats & politicians, & would require the termination of a huge number of public servants dealing with this rort.

I wonder how many know that our only amphibious warfare ship the ex RN ship Largs Bay, has been acting as a hotel for public servants at Manus Island for about 6 months.

The public servants bitch the accommodation is not good enough, although it is the best in our navy, & it is a waste of an awful lot of money.

About time we gave those bureaucrats some nice tents up there. We are about to enter our cyclone season. We need the capacity of this ship available for local emergency relief, not playing wet nurse to a bunch of illegal boat people, & a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats. It was very bad that we took days to get to help Cardwell last time. Nothing must be allowed to cause us doing that to Ozzies again. That ship must be available here.

It is about time we told the UN to service these so called refugees, as they do all over the world. The UN has to be good for something.

LEGO - thanks for your comments. Some points:

Sea power - Indonesia may have 150 patrol boats on the inventory. What proportion of this fleet is in working order is another matter. Further, patrol boats are unsuitable for Indian Ocean work at high intensity even when properly maintained. Just ask the Australian Navy about that.

Indonesia's intentions - well I've lived in Indonesia for eight years and aside from one-eyed fanatics (a class of person found in every country) I've found no evidence that anyone would like to take over Australia or has a secret plan to do so.

Well Scribe, that is interesting. These now clapped out tubs they use for the illegal people trade have been able to fish the Indian ocean for decades, but patrol boats can't.

At least, if they have no government boats on the Indian ocean side of the islands, there'll be none to interfere with our patrol boats towing the tubs back to that coast.

Time to take off the gloves. Good relationships with countries like Indonesia come to you, only when you show strength.

Dear Scribe.

They would be pretty funny naval patrol boats if they could not handle the same seas which Indonesian fishing boats packed to the rafters with illegal immigrants can handle with ease. And since so many of these boats get into trouble a hundred yards off the Indonesian coast and call for the Aussies to rescue them, I think that the Indonesian navy could cope with that, don't you?

As for how many are serviceable, I don't know. But some of them must be and they are all in the north of Indonesia apparently doing zilch while the Indos claim that that they are powerless to do anything, when they obviously are not making any effort at all.

I never said that Indonesia was plotting to invade Australia. What I am saying is that Indonesia is obviously a country which is hostile to Australia and it is high time we stopped sucking up to them and treated them like the hostile neighbour they are. No more aid for Indonesian forests. No more aid for Indonesian schools. No more the Aussie taxpayer bailing them out when their money is worthless. No more Indonesian immigrants. No more Indonesian families living in Australia remitting Australian money to Indonesia.

Since Australia is a first world country that is worth something and Indonesia is just another third world shiithole which hates all Imperialism except it's own, I put it to you that we are a lot more important to Indonesia, than they are to us.

Something occurred to me today.
After the 2004 Tsunami we didn't see an influx of "Asylum Seekers" from the affected areas and I guarantee we won't see a sudden flood of "refugees" from the Phillipines in coming months after the Typhoon.
Now, is the situation in Leyte in the next few years going to be worse than present day Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or Afghanistan?
Why is it that "refugees" only seem to flee man made economic or political conditions, not natural disasters?

If it weren’t for the Labor/Green government and its open border policies, the subject of illegal boats would not be up for discussion now. The fact that the boats are still coming is clearly the fault of the Rudd/Gillard government.

However, Tony Abbott seems to be the only person in Australia who believed that he would ‘stop the boats’ in short order. He has bitten off more than he can chew, for the moment.

For starters, how can Australia be taken seriously about stopping boats when it enters Indonesian waters to ‘save’ a load of illegals? Talk about bringing trouble on ourselves!

Australian politicians, not Indonesian ones, are the problem. Labor, Liberal, it makes no difference. They have both been frightened by the extreme Left, and no longer have the guts to do what must be done.

Illegal arrivals are Australia’s problem, and it’s a problem that can only be solved by Australians. Forget about Indonesia; they just take our money and laugh at us. Stop the money, and start the action.

Force (nothing else has worked since Howard) is the only thing that will stop people trying to get here by boat. It’s time Australian politicians realised that it is their job to protect Australia, no matter what.

LEGO,
You are quite correct in all your valid points.

Scribe,
You miss the point. Muslim anti Australian sentiment is not a criminal offense in Indonesia, in fact it is encouraged.
Here in Australia anti Indonesian sentiment is discouraged to the point of criminalization.
I hop you don't live to see the day when the good brothers are hacking your family to bits just because they are "Infidels"

I remember when a small group of Australian military personnel were sent up to Indonesia to assassinate Sukarno and all the guns of the Indonesian Army were symbolically pointed at Australia.
Sukarno handed government over to Suharto and we came home.
They are coming mate and their fifth column is growing day by day.

Scribe talking to fools will only draw you into their pit of hate and lies.

>>Why is it that "refugees" only seem to flee man made economic or political conditions, not natural disasters?<<

Because political and economic conditions only affect politics and economics. Natural disasters are indiscriminate: they smeg everything up. Including boats. Especially boats, in the case of typhoons. I've seen the damage wrought: it'd be a pretty sturdy boat that could weather such a storm. How many boats do you think the Philippines have left? Of those, how many would you still consider sufficiently seaworthy to travel to Australia?

Political and economic conditions don't immediately render vessels unseaworthy: the Dunkirk evacuation would have been impossible if that were the case.

Sometimes political and economic conditions are such that escape by boat is the soundest option available. If the English Channel had been hit by a freak typhoon at the wrong time who knows what the loss of life to the Allied Forces would have been.

No boats = no fleeing. Unless you're a very good swimmer.

Cheers,

Tony

Why is it that "refugees" only seem to flee man made economic or political conditions, not natural disasters?
Jay Of Melbourne,
Because it's got nothing to do with that, that's why. It's the muslimisation of the last frontier & that's all there's to it ! It is beyond me how how many still can't grasp what's going on.

REfugees are not people fleeing tsunamis, they are displaced people or dead. Refugees are people who have a well founded fear of persecution and seek refuge in other nations like ours.

I do get sick to death of this incessant babble about Indonesia being the answer though.

1. it is not now and nor has it ever been criminal smuggling to assist refugees, most refugees have to pay bribes to get across borders, only Australia has made it a crime and then punishes the refugees.
2. Indonesia is in the middle of yet another genocide that has been ongoing for decades, why should we pander to them.
3. if refugees are rescued at sea and are on our ships they are on our "soil".
4. the law is extremely simply no matter how much the Australian polity, media and academics pretend otherwise - everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.

Enough already, we need to stop this game of boats with Indonesia, people get killed.

And for those who advocate force, you are talking about women and kids not soldiers.

<<why is it that "refugees" only seem to flee man made economic or political conditions, not natural disasters?>>

Give 'em time, give 'em time.

The Greens have long be angling to add "climate change" as another pretext for asylum scamming, and I believe there is currently a case in NZ where a "climate refugee" was trying it on for the THIRD time --THE SAME GUY FOR THE THIRD TIME!
No doubt he'd be on legal aid or some sort of pro bono arrangement with a legal firm who has an eye on it as a growth industry!

Marilyn Shepherd,
Only while we remain under the rule of UN conventions do we so called refugees have rights.
Get out from this tangle of legal crap and let them fight for their own country just like any Australian would if his freedom was threatened by a dictator.

Lego I've read a few of your comments and I was wondering whether you may be interested in contributing on a new documentary series I am making. .

If interested please contact me on jake.smith@shineaustralia.com

All the best

Jake