"It is ironic that for someone who places a lot of worth on compassion and respect, you seem to have little regard for your fellow posters."

Waah! You don't deserve any compassion and respect, because you and other posters here have voluntarily and readily demonstrated themselves to be unthinking drones who have completely drunk the Kool Aid and are unable to produce a scintilla of original thought, relying instead on the cynical and calculating rhetoric of your plutocratic masters.

Please tell me - anyone, actually tell me - where you get your information on asylum seekers arriving to Australia, outside of the Murdoch media, conservative talkback radio or the LNP, all of whom have a massive financial and political stake in spreading lies and misinformation. Literally one source outside of these.

I am constantly astounded by the confidence with which people pronounce these people "economic migrants"/"country shoppers" etc, without a scrap of evidence, and flying in the face of the opinions of neutral academic, legal and medical experts who devote their professional lives to working on this exact issue.

And yet I'm not really surprised, because this line plays neatly into your small, preconceived, xenophobic mindset: the borders are "violated" daily by armies of visa overstayers, but because they are unseen - by arriving by plane along with the vast majority of visitors to this country, but more importantly, by being white Anglo-Saxons - there is no outcry whatsoever. The reference to the Yellow Peril by a previous commenter is spot on.

Thanks for underlining my point, Jayb. Your responses so far have been pitch-perfect.

>>(Pericles: They say more about your morality and ethical make-up than you could possibly realize.)
No it doesn't. It says that we have though this issue through & come up with a different outcome to you. Australians, living in a Democracy, are allowed to have a different opinion to you without being insulted.<<

It seems you have concluded that by describing your posts as being a reflection of your personality, I am somehow being "insulting".

Very revealing.

And...

>>Compassionate? This is "Business." There is little room for compassion in "Business."<<

Actually, to very many people, this is not "business" at all, but instead a connection with humanity. The fact that you think of it as a "business", requires you to put a monetary value on human life.

So do tell, what do you reckon that might be?

Really Speegster you need to open your eyes and have a good look around. Even the ABC (that notoriously right wing media giant) showed footage last week that proved these people not to be what you are claiming.

As for neutral academics, legal and medical people, well I am not sure about the academics and the medicos, but there are certainly some legals who will loose trade, and thus money, by stopping this illegal entry. And yes, it is illegal from many points of law, both in our country and in Indonesia.

The main difference between overstayers arriving by air, as opposed to indo fishing boats, is that they arrived with a visa and a passport. The dept. of immigration also have an active programme to track these people and deport them as necessary. I do not know what you base your assumption of flight arrivals being 'White anglo-saxon' on. The figures available from readily available government websites would suggest otherwise.

Maybe instead of wasting time labelling us "unthinking drones" you should use that time to do some research and become aware of what is actually happening rather than reitterating illinformed leftwing propaganda.

Pericles, if I pay money to a person, or persons, for the purpose of conveying me from one point to another that is "business". You draw a very long bow by thinking it is a "connection with humanity".

And as for the value of human life, what was the value of the 1200, or so, souls drowned at sea under our "open borders" regime?

Pericles: Keep those xenophobic posts a-coming, you guys. They say more about your morality and ethical make-up than you could possibly realize.

Pericles: I am somehow being "insulting".

You accuse me & anyone that disagrees with your view as being; xenophobic, morally and ethically corrupt. That's not insulting? Eh!

Pericles: Actually, to very many people, this is not "business" at all, but instead a connection with humanity.

40% doesn't mean they support your view on Boat people. By many people you mean about 20%, The other 20% couldn't give a rats one way or the other.

The Australian Economy is a Business. Australian Business. Not only does it involve people but it involves how much is spent on Infrastructure, Schools, Hospitals, Industry & much more. $8 Billion on wasted AID & $3 Billion on Boat People per year. That's wasted money. That's big Business. Compassion is cheap. I take it you have sponsored a Muslim family,have them living with you & are providing all their essentials, being the compassionate person that you are. Or, are you all hot air like most of the "compassionate" blowhards. Oh, that's someone else's job.

No word form Jack Maxwell?. I don't think we will,.put him in the dumpster with the Costello's etc.

@Sparkyq you do realise the irony of decrying someone for not doing proper research, and then posting no evidence whatsoever to back up your claims, right?

"Even the ABC (that notoriously right wing media giant) showed footage last week that proved these people not to be what you are claiming".

Have you heard of the phenomenon of "linking"? Please link to this footage and provide an analysis of how "these people" are not what I'm claiming.

"I do not know what you base your assumption of flight arrivals being 'White anglo-saxon' on. The figures available from readily available government websites would suggest otherwise."

Actually I was referring specifically to people who overstay their visa. And from the actual official statistics provided by the Department of Immigration, as opposed to your, you know, NON-statistics, the largest single proportion (18%) of Temporary Entrants in Australia come from Anglo-Saxon countries (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, South Africa, NZ), and 30% come from ethnically predominantly Caucasian countries. So the biggest potential pool of overstayers come from these subpopulations.

Here's the link: http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/temp-entrants/totaltemp.htm

See it's not that hard to link! Now where are yours?

"you should use that time to do some research and become aware of what is actually happening rather than reitterating illinformed leftwing propaganda"

Actually last year I managed a project commissioned by the Department of Immigration interviewing 1,000 former asylum seekers, and met and interviewed in greater detail 10 myself, as well as academic and legal experts on seeking asylum. I can't tell you the results because they're confidential, but I base my opinion on this rigorous, social scientific research, so perhaps you can intuit the overall gist.

Why, how many asylum seekers/refugee experts have you met and interviewed?