I used to be proud to be Australian, when I read articles like this, I hang my head in shame.

First, this situation is appalling, and must be sorted. Children cannot be kept in these conditions.

However, does any responsibility lie with the parents themselves? Quite simply, in most cases if the parents had not transgressed Australia's immigration laws, they would not be in the camps.

Compare this to the corby case... we are told (on this forum and others) to respect the indonesian justice system. Well, lets respect our system. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

But this cannot be applied to children obviously. Maybe a separate system of care homes should be provided to care for children while they are kept in detention. I guess its a bit hard to break families up like that though. Not sure what the answer is here.

When I see what has just happened in Spain, where the left-wing government has just given residency to seven hundred thousand illegal immigrants, I am comforted by the fact that we have a government that has had the guts to take on the internationalist lobby and control illegal immigration. The only criticism I would make of the current system is that there should be a procedure where these people can be placed in an overseas refugee camp where they will be safe from persecution, instead of being detained in Australia. The protagonists of unlimited immigration do not seem to realise how much worse this is going to get, when the world population increases by another 50% over the next few decades. Taking action now may prevent much harsher action in the future, such as the need to declare illegal immigrants to be enemy aliens liable to be shot on sight, or for the navy to use refugee boats for target practice.

Agreed,

It is nice to see the government providing a strong policy in this area. Other countries hold the aussie system up as a model to be aspired to.

In the UK, dispersal of illegal immigrants has led to tremendous social upheaval - unable to work they enter a shadowy world of illegal labour, bed and breakfast accomodation and hostility from the wider community. Asylum applications disappear into a vast backlog, and the system costs a great deal more than the Australian system.

People in the UK look enviously to Australia, as their welfare and housing systems are submerged in a tide of illegal immigration.

Maybe illegals with children who have not destroyed all their papers can be given some leeway?

I don't know how many boats have arrived here since the Tampa, but it's not very many. The governments crack-down on illegal immigrants have stopped them coming here in the first place, hence with less arrivals, there are less children subjected to detention. Deterring them from coming is the best way to solve the problem.

When I hear of things like this I am ashamed to call myself Australian. Fleeing a dangerous country to want a better life for your children is not something that should be punishable. These people come here for Australia's 'fair go' something it seems we no longer have.
These are real people. Compassion should not be lost amongst the politics.
Who is to say we would not do the same in their position.