Di Any “credibility” for your view was flushed down the pan with – and I quote you

“Our detention centres are the 21st century equivalent to Nazi camps and like the Nazi's, the govt will justify it till the cows come home, because we have the law on our side”.

"Equivalent" -
Equal, as in value, force, or meaning.
Having similar or identical effects.
Source Dictionary.com

1 Hitler incarcerated the citizens of his own nation first – we are detaining illegal immigrants and visa violators.

2 Hitler was pursuing a final solution – we are not

3 Hitler expropriated the property and possessions of his victims – we are not

4 Hitler closed his borders to prevent the Jews escaping – we offer assistance for illegal immigrants to go home.

5 Hitler enforced his political will with barbaric experiments, gas chambers and crematoria – the nearest to that we have are some dumb sensationalists trying to engender sympathy by sewing a piece of thread into the corner of their own mouths

So any “equivalence” between Nazi camps and detention centres is obviously lacking – just like the credibility of people who think their is mileage in making and posting completely asinine claims.

I note a family from refugee camps in East Africa featured in the Herald Sun yesterday, they waited in line as their refugee status was processed and they were approved for entry – and my sincere best wishes to them. Should their opportunity to get here be deferred because some queue jumper from India (the 6 year man) took their place? – I, for one, do not think so

Split hairs till you're having a bad hair day Col. If you are going to quote a dictionary equivalent vs equal and what those words mean verbatim doesn't quite get to the crux of the human matter rattling around in detention. Whether one is detaining people from their own country or from someone elses just goes to highlight the humanity and the legality we should offer. Morally, it is wrong to hold people in detention for that period of time, as I have said, they are not necessarily "Criminals". Our laws are such that when they land here, they are criminals. They are not taking away rights of "legal immigrants", ie: we let some refugees in and therefore we cut down our quota of "real immigrants". It's horrible in the sense that if it was you in a detention centre making your own little bid for freedom, you would be horrified and traumatised as well. Any individuals fleeing from in danger of being murdered by that country's regime deserve a bit of TLC. If it was happening here, we would expect it from the US and UK. But hey! they're just like us!

And another thing Col, you take exception to my equation with nazi regime when it comes to the differences you so rightly pointed out. Hitler gained power in Europe, with a lot more borders than Oz, so it was easier to take away the rights of a certain type of people that had a lot more transience happening. He made sure he stitched them up before he got into a final solution. Step by step. Take one step, two step, and before you know it, you are down the garden path, justifying manditory sentencing before you know it. Nazi mindset is not confined to Germany. Neither is empathy. Or sympathy to some poor bugger that just wants what we seem to have.

Di – I gave the reference to the definition of “equivalent” - I suggest any dispute you have you take up with dictionary.com.

As for the rest – I could list a range of further dissimilarities between what you “claim” and what happens in the “real world” – Your attempts to vilify the overwhelmingly accepted (by Australians) Australian practice of detention for illegal queue jumpers who have no regard or respect for our statutes, suggests that maybe you would be better off going and putting all your energy toward doing something rather than posting here telling everyone else what they should do.

As for taking steps – your attempts to reduce all debate to the level of emotional hyperbole illustrate the dimensions to your argument being –

“scalar”

(distinct from “vector” or “array” – I suggest you look up those definitions yourself, when you make your complaint to dictionary.com)

Col, just what part of desperately fleeing for your life don't you understand?

A simple analogy using your logic. If I was being attacked in my home and I fled next door into my neighbour's home for help - should I be arrested for trespass? According to you I should be.

No one is suggesting that we don't assess refugees for suitability for residence in our country. We are simply saying that the process should be humane.

Why can't we process people the same way we processed Vietnamese boat people - we didn't lock them away for years?

Detention camps are not humane- they are the closest thing to facism in this country and we should be questioning their use.

Why can you not understand that bad things can happen to good people and despite everything there are times when people need help and understanding?

Given the vitriol of your responses to people like Di, Miranda and myself, you appear to be one emotive individual and as such would be the first to scream if your rights were trampled upon in the same manner as the refugees have been.

You must lead a very fortunate existence Col so be so untouched by the plight of these people.

I'm not here to have a competition about who's got the most pointy headed words in any posting, Col Rouge your latest comment was a tad smug. If "reducing" the level of debate by being emotional about issues such as human rights, you find so much to be derisive about, I wonder what issue you would justify getting emotive or passionate about? Re suggesting I go and put my energy into something else, what? and leave the postings to you and the World According to You? I'm not telling anyone what to think, it's a debate. Any one also thinking that Australians overwhelmingly support our current detention practices, missed the whole point of the last election. In the infamous words of Bill Clinton - "it's the economy stupid". The sad point is that no human rights issues came up in the election, there were probably too many people like you not caring to put it on the agenda, too worried about your little neck of the woods with the mortgage.