Suse,
Broken Borders, an article on immigration fraud and identity fraud among so called "refugees".
http://www.theage.com.au/national/brokenborders?rand=1407336867393
The Taliban and like minded groups don't "persecute" people who haven't done anything wrong but they treat criminals such as drug dealers, thieves and NATO spies with the customary tribal brutality which is the norm in that region, the reason some people are on the run from Afghanistan is because they're not good people in the first place.
What's more religous and tribal militias have always been a feature of Afghan society so it's not like people growing up there don't know how they're supposed to behave or what's expected of them.

Suse in your opinion what proportion of Australia's population should be from the "legacy" groups who made up the bulk of the pre 1970 population?
Could you also explain how our society benefits from accepting immigrants who cannot even fit into the society in which they are born?
If these people are the misfits and outcasts of the Third World who refuse to abide by the cultural norms of their homeland how can they offer anything to their host society which we couldn't get from those legacy groups?
Even if we take their excuse at face values what makes poor Afghans and Sri Lankans more deserving of asylum than poor Irish, Greeks, Italians or Serbs, to cite just a few examples of legacy groups?

Suse, the fact is that most of those "poor boat people" actually FLY into Indonesia, they have no difficulty accessing air-travel once they cross their own border.
All they need do in every other nation they pass through is inform the "gate-keepers" that they're on their way to Australia and away they go unimpeded, those nations don't want them any more than WE do.
The Tamils that put to sea in old boats are obviously a different case and there I tend towards a more merciful approach, but given that they could just as easily sail to the Tamil areas of India without the greater risks involved in heading South to Oz they must surely be seen as "economic" refugees, they are plainly seeking the more lucrative opportunities here than actual safety.
They are at liberty to seek refugee status in India and apply to come to Oz, joining the "queue" and awaiting assessment and fair consideration, yet they prefer to "force" their way in instead, an act that, to me, should disqualify them immediately.

G'Day Bruce, do you really blame refugees or asylum seekers from preferring to take their chances in Australia rather than the other poor countries surrounding the ones they have just fled from?
I don't....

Are you really that naïve Suse to believe that you couldn't buy your way out of Afghanistan for much less than the cost of a boat ride out of Indonesia?

Suze, of course I don't blame them, but it does rather make a mockery of their and their supporters claims for refugee status based on their fear for their lives and safety, doesn't it?
As I said, they have the same opportunity by fleeing to safety without all the dangers of a massive sea voyage by going to nearby India and applying to Australia there, by coming here direct and without said refugee status granted they are demonstrating their priorities clearly, money first and foremost, which suggests to me they're more greedy than frightened.

Wow Hasbeen, you must be well travelled if you have been to Afghanistan and seen all this happening at airports, or, like me, are you just judging all your 'knowledge' on what you read and hear in the media or from Afghan people here in Australia?

G'Day Bruce, if I was a woman living in danger in Afghanistan, I would do whatever it takes to get my family to the best place possible.
If I thought that might happen faster by taking a boat, I would do it.

As it happens, I am happy there have apparently not been any more asylum seekers dying at sea trying to get here,
although I doubt Morrison would let us know if they had, do you?
I agree we can't afford to take more than our fair share of worldwide refugees.

I am of the opinion that if they are genuine refugees or asylum seekers who pass all the stringent criteria to be allowed to settle legally in Australia, then it doesn't matter where they come from, nor what God they follow.