Predictable stuff. Post after post suggesting we close our doors to nasty furriners, and if possible, send back home the ones who managed to make it here already.

Long on emotion - mostly fear, interestingly - but very, very short on detail. Such as

Exactly, who decides who is to be kept out, and on what basis?

Exactly, on what grounds will people who are to be re-exported, be selected?

Exactly who will be responsible for settling their affairs and seeing these undesirables off the premises?

Exactly, how will the necessary bill be prepared for parliamentary approval, and who will sponsor it?

Exactly how much weight will be placed upon concepts of natural justice, fairness and equitable dealing?

Exactly, how will we square this approach with all the other aspirations that we have, such as for our economic prosperity? The actions proposed will close ourselves off from the rest of the world in much the same manner as North Korea. And don't expect anything from the rest of the world - USA and Europe included - except universal condemnation, coupled with a reduction of our international status to that of pariah.

The saddest aspect of it all is that this is an exact duplication of the thought processes that guide our parliament these days. No real thinking involved, just knee-jerk, xenophobic, mindless vindictiveness. Driven, as I mentioned before, by irrational fear, exploited beautifully by our government.

The example set by our leaders is being taken as license to blindly blame others for perceived wrongs, without employing a single brain cell in the process.

A fish rots from the head.

Pericles... as usual, mostly good points you raise. But, can you do us a favor ?
‘are you, or are you not’ in a position to put any suggestions along the lines you asked into policy ? Do you have a position where it might be worth while going to that trouble in this forum ?
If not, its probably pointless asking and actually expecting a full blown policy document to be contained in 350 words.

1/ ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA.
A committee, working group, drawn from Government mostly, with advice from opposition, religious groups, who reflect the predominant Anglo Euro cultural flavor of Australia, will base its assessment on current trends, long term experience/observation of the movement of cultures and their impact on host countries.(FranceHolland?)

2/ DEPORTATION will depend on their citizenship status. Existing citizens cannot be deported. New arrivals will have conditional citizenship, pending some assimilation criteria.

3/ SETTLING AFFAIRS of those deported. If they are deported on National Security grounds, they will be liquidated and the assets given to support networks for the poor. After deportation costs are deducted.

4/ THE BILL will be prepared by those skilled in such things, like you :) or, if time allowed, me, but I’m not so skilled in the legal side.

5/ SPONSORSHIP will be by interested parliamentarians.

F.H. “grow up” ? hmmm.. given that there are 290million Indonesian Muslims, on our northern doorstep who:

a) Have shown they are willing to enthusiastically supply thousands of ‘jihad’ warriors to support former ‘peaceful neighbours’ of Christians, hold open the legs of infant girls and elderly Christian women while they slice off their clitoruses with unsanitized razor blades, and herd male Christians into mass graves, and burn thousands of houses, and threaten them with death if they don’t convert.
b) Amien Rais, leader of the largest Muslim group has called for ‘holy war’ against Indonesian Christians

I hardly think it is me who needs to ‘grow up’ and not view increasing Muslim populations of having a danger element. And my neighbour is a lovely guy.. an Indian Hindu, lends me his tractor sometimes

For several years I lived beside the Scheyville Migrant Centre that operated in the 1940s to 1960s to take in migrants from Europe. The conditions were basic, but these people spent time there adjusting to the language and conditions of life in Australia. Many of the residents who came there in those days are now leaders in business in Australia.

What seems to be happening now new arrivals are not getting the language and assimilation skills but are accumilating in ghetos with no work or opportunities to improve their position. Flogging drugs and thieving property seems the most productive way of getting ahead in their mind.

Boaz, as you are very well aware, I'm not trying to be tricksy here, just focussing attention on the realities involved in fulfilling the simplistic "kick-em-out" aspirations of your fellow posters.

Your suggestions are of course very personal, and could not be expected to stay the course of debate even in this forum, let alone the wider community, let alone again the legislature. However, at least you gave it a shot.

There are already rules under which people are allowed into this country. If you decide to add "assimilation" style questions (as in the US, Canada and now the UK), that won't keep anybody out who actually wants to be here. And if you decide to exclude on the basis of ethnicity or religious grounds, you open up an international can of worms that will have severe repersussions on our economy. Are you prepared for that? Are you prepared to sacrifice your own business and livelihood, for example, if the government decides that your customers are somehow undesirable?

As for actually kicking people out, try to picture, if you are able, what are the logistics in actually carrying this out. Think for a moment of the photos of them being herded onto the planes, and the historical parallels the foreign press will inevitably draw. Then try to imagine the government that would risk such an exercise.

My intention is not to canvass policies for consideration, so much as to illustrate how unrealistic it is to voice them.

And it is this clash between the intellectual "ideal" and the reality of carrying out such policies that is the reason I consider such talk to be so inflammatory and dangerous.

Did you catch up with Mosley yet?

redneck[again], re successfull societys , you like the US- something like a "lucky?" 4% of the world's population consuming 25 % of the world's scarce resources .Just seems a bit unfair to me and maybe it won't work too well for them in the future.
i hope bill gates doesn't give all the profits away.

Hey I'm all for multiculturalism, but in light of what is happening in Europe with its muslim population, in the most tolerant of societies such as Holland and Sweden, there has to be limits or strategies put in place. Unfortunately I don't have the practical answers either but I feel that the debate is important enough to keep going.

Also, if the goverment doesn't address the issue while it is small, then all that will happen is that people will take matters into their own hands when it gets out of hand (a far more frightening prospect).

You can put all the anti discrimination laws into place as much as you like, but in the real world it's not going to stop the bubbles under the surface. Becoming Australian is not just a piece of paper. It is something to be earned, and it takes time, compromise, and a few generations. Some do it easily because they are closer to the dominant Australian culture, but muslims, who aren't exactly discreet in their presence here, are going to have their work cut out for them. More than the Greeks or Italians ever did.

The muslim girl who won the right to wear a burka to school certainly may have won her own personal battle for acceptance in the Australian courts, but in doing so she may have lost the battle for all Australian muslims being accepted by the rest of the community.