Afterthought, consequent on reading the article from this Manchester Professor. And typical of we know best, elitist loudmouth pom. (Or run of the mill nutter?) Who I'm sure, would like to "transport" some of the problems accompanying europe's disastrous immigration problem to the antipodes!

Somewhere it is written the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Alan B.

Old timers disease is obviously alive & well with this one.

The softening is obviously with his thinking progress, when he knows a large influx of refugees has always led to problems where ever it has occurred, but wants us to do it again.

How does that one go? Insanity or stupidity is doing the same thing again & again, expecting a different result.

Toni Lavis

(and others of the OLO punterrati who can't see the article)

When you are at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=18555 just click on "All" and the article text will actually appear.

____________________________________________________________

MY COMMENT

At the risk of age-ism and looking at the author's elderly photo, I expect he would have dear departed long before his illegal immigrant ("refugee") drawing suggestions have effect.

This thread is not worthy of comment.

Peter Bowden is an author, researcher and ethicist & a Left Wing, Politically Correct Socialist Sympathizer. His credentials give him no more credence than anyone else. Your opinion, & mine have just as much value.

< 1. could be the first to show the world that people of many creeds and beliefs can live together in peace. The world has been at war since time immemorial.>

We could & have done so far. Unfortunately, up until the last 10 years Australia hasn’t been under threat of Terrorism. It is now. Why is that? Is one of those groups of people that have had the privilege of being allowed to immigrate or have been taken in for humanitarian reasons not playing by the rules? I think so. What group would that be Peter?

<2. Australia already leads the world’s list with the highest percentage of foreign born people.>

We do. & regardless of ethnicity, what did they mostly all have in common with Australians? Would that be Christianity? I think so. A smattering of Hinduism & Buddhism, benign religions that live peacefully alongside Christianity without a hint of threats.

<3. We already are hugely multicultural. One in five households in Australia’s communities speaks a language other than English.>

& that is a good thing. Being able to speak another language is always a plus. Australia has the most diverse foods eaten by everyone than any other Country.
cont

cont
<4. The photos of the destruction in Syria, of the dead and injured children, call on our deepest humanitarian sympathies.>

Yes they do. It is also a warning not to bring people from that part of the World to Australia. The people in the Middle East have constantly been at War with other for the past 5000 years. So far their Religious Wars have been confined to the Middle East. Allowing them to spread their hatred around the rest of the World is not a good idea for the rest of the Worlds people. Bring them here has only resulted in the decreased of personal security for the Australian people & threats & acts of Terrorism. Something that wasn’t even imagined 20 years ago.

<5. Our incarceration of people on Manus Island or Nauru is unconscionable. It is akin to setting up concentration camps. Also the inability of the press to visit Nauru is suppression of one of the strongest of democratic guidelines - the Freedom of Speech.

The incarceration of questionable Asylum Seekers on those islands is wrong. They should have been sent back to Indonesia immediately. As regards the conditions on those Islands. They are of a much higher standard than those provided anywhere by the UNCHR. The UNCHR should be controlling those Camps not Australia. Why don’t they? Is it because they don’t recognize then as refugees once they leave the safety of the UNCHR camps in the Middle East? Yes it is.

<6. as Robert Manne says ‘Australians are not, in general, redneck racists hostile to refugees’.

Robert Manne is right. We are not Rednecks & just because the Majority of Australians don’t want Islam in Australia doesn’t make us Rednecks. It makes us sensible. We don’t want to bring in people who will threaten Australian People just because they don’t like the customs or the Religion of most of Australians.
cont