Its WORLD REFUGEE DAY on June 20 2005.

for those who care...

Rainer,get involved with the real problems facing our country.We have bloated govt bureaucracies,we have no money to fund their superannuation.In the next 15 yrs the Commonwealth has to find $131 billion and we only gross $8 billion pa GDP, much of which goes overseas to foreign shareholders.Then we have all the State Govts which have also unfunded super liabilities.There are 1.2 million state public servants and to this all our council workers and we have economic meltdown.When the baby boomers begin to retire,this country will be in dire straights.We will have less wealth and more liabilities.Why do you think we are trying to flog off anything we can lay our hands on?In doing so we are we are digging a deeper hole for future generations.

We have more pressing problems at home,that don't auger well for all our futures.Concern about refugees will be very low on our priorities.We are headed for some really tough times.

Certain posters here will no doubt be tuning out to the G8 concerts and slagging off certain rock stars for trying to change the world. I have no interest in joining any competition of a poster that judges who has got the most unreal comment. It's not Big Brother, it's about sharing opinions without personally slagging off because you don't agree. For the poster that said that for illegal immigrant cheap labour, we should look at Mexifornia, well! my limited knowledge of US history is that California was once frequented, and perhaps populated by "Mexicans" before the US decided to own it. Invaders? They are hardly trespassing by crossing the border, but hey! they're breaking the law these days. Not many Republicans bitch about the fact they're employing those "illegal immigrants", that's why it is such a lucrative business in the US where these "immigrants "can find employment. It hardly has anything to do about what's happening here.

Albert, keep going, you're making the most sense.

Arjay, I thought that this particular forum was about asylum seekers and refugees?.

And…by the way…

Its just an observation but your assertions have an eerier resemblance to Pauline Hanson and the League of Nations boogie man conspiracy theories that scared the bejesus out of the elderly and the gullible.

It reminds me of a type of moral and economic panic narratives that fits very well with the ideological world of the Far Right sects.

I'm not saying for one moment that you are far Right, but your warnings are reminiscent of those 'prepare or we perish' speeches that were popular at the turn of the last century when the White Australian Policy hung proudly on the lounge room walls in respectable Australian homes.

These days we get sent an array of ridiculous fridge magnets from Prime Minister whatsizname.

Sorry to disappoint , but I’ll happily be supporting World Refugee Day here in the real world on the 20th. If you'd like to support it too go to http://www.unhcr.org.au/WRD2005.shtml to find out where its being held in your capital city.

Divergance:

I haven't checked out the sources you've mentioned, but assuming what you're saying is true then perhaps fears of an "underclass of cheap labour" caused by mass illegal immigration aren't unfounded. However... :-) I'm going to go back to my argument that Petro's plan to release asylum seekers from detention after a set amount of time won't lead to an increase in illegal immigrants.

Could someone explain what effect a low minimum wage would have on creating this "underclass of cheap labour"? I readily admit I don't really know much about this at all, hence me asking the question :-) According to this website [ http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm#California ], the minimum wage in California is US$6.75/hour, which according to this website [ http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi ] is equivalent to AU$8.80/hour. The Australian minimum wage is $12.30/hour, [source: http://www.actu.asn.au/public/about/minimumwage.html ] which is quite a bit more.

Congratulations to Petro Georgiou for standing up and saying what should have been said years ago - this is a disgrace - Amnesty International condemned mandatory detention in 2001 - what are we thinking as a nation locking these people up for up to six years with no conviction??
As a new Australian citizen I am appalled and embarrassed, but I do not think it is too late to turn the tide and try to undo some of the damage that has been done.
I have been to Baxter and met and spoken to people there - they are human beings just like you and I - not terrorists, but rather architects and bakers and environmental engineers - their brains are being wasted (literally) trapped in these cages like animals - go and speak to them yourselves before judging and condemning them to this life of hell...
I have written an essay about my visit to Baxter - if anyone is interested in reading it contact me at mandi@weensyweb.com