"Demonising refugees". What rot! Objecting to people trying to get into Australia illegally and without good cause - after hopping through other countries - is perfectly normal for any country, particularly one like Australia, which has been very generous with UN-processed people, and ridiculously soft on illegals hiring smugglers to get them here in defiance of the Refugee Convention.

It's good to see that at least one senior ADF officer still takes Australia's border protection and laws seriously. Whether or not he and others will be able to continue doing their job under a hard left and stupid Labor government remains to be seen. They have already brought into question the determined and successful policy of refusing residency to illegal arrivals by allowing a family of illegals to "go home" to a country town, when their real home is Sri Lanka. If you want to talk about "politicising", there it is: dangerous and divisive left wing politics taking precedence over Australian law and border protection.

There are no "merits of asylum", and "international law" is a crock, based on an arrangement decades out of date, for genuinely displaced people after WW2

This is an issue of Sovereignty, and how that Sovereignty will be controlled.

There are human rights issues left right and centre. People in Australia living in tents in parks, amidst a housing crisis is one.

There is simply no spare accommodation in Australia, nor apparent ability of Australian Governments to solve this issue.

I hear industry crying out for workers, I’m sure Sri Lankins could assist, but where do sympathetic Governments plan to accommodate them?

I think you should relax. I predict immigration levels will again be increased irrespective of a housing crises, and labour shortages of industry will be prioritised above any other consideration, with supply of foreign workers. (Workers with Visas that is, not illegal boat arrivals)!

Line up mate!

Dan

Disagree! We take more refugees pro rata than nearly anybody else! We are not typically Duttonites! And find that misrepresentation quite scurrilous!

If we are to take more? We need to do more at home. To lower the cost of living/doing business here at home. Starting with the cost of energy which impacts on all else. We cannot house those here now!

To do more for asylum seekers we need fix problems here at home, starting with the progressive rollout of around a million social houses!

Very rapid rail, for the huge economic boost/decentralization that would come with that. Even so, we are limited in how many we can cater for by the very finite water resources we have! Need massive desalination plants to ensure we have enough water for the folks we already have!

That means new dispatchable base load affordable power! The only carbon-free energy that is also affordable, is MSR thorium.

If we are to take more people? They need jobs not permanent welfare! And that means we need an industrial revolution!

Only possible with new carbon-free and affordable energy. The idea we can make more stuff here at today's power prices is the stuff of dream castles in the air!

And need to grip the nettle and stop preventing the transition to what will work, i.e., MSR thorium.

MSR thorium can also be re-tasked to burn nuclear waste very safely as we are paid to store it. To produce free industrial power as we reduce the half life to 300 years.

Even then, new technology can convert some of that waste to nuclear batteries that convert radiation to electrical energy that keep on producing electricity for up to 300 years, potentially.

Other nuclear wastes that are the most dangerous in the environment can be used to make food, cryrovaced meat, fruit, vegetables and grain that'll stay just picked/harvested, fresh for decades.

Taking in more refugees means we need new housing, jobs and affordable industrial energy! Unless we want tent cities and new crime waves by folks who are left with little choice!
Alan B.

The problem in this country isn't boat people, it's people who write articles like this.