Indonesia is the most ungrateful group of people you have ever seen.

Turn your back after feeding them, helping them in disasters and providing support, and they bite you the first chance they get after the first thing that happens that they disagree on.

As for helping with people smuggling illegal fishing, what a joke it was token help only, if they enforced the laws and respected the boundaries even somewhat they would be able to make a huge difference.

Who cares if the relationship sours, we have been a gravy train for them for so long it is disgusting they would act like this after one simple incident.

Its time we told them to get stuffed, forget the population, forget the threat they are too fragmented to ever endanger us, and we pour our hearts out as a government and as individuals when disaster happens, only to be forgotten about in return.

As Chopper's father told him when he got out of Jail, your kindness will be the death of you, and this is right for Australia as we are flogging a dead horse and there is no point being kind to a snake when they are waiting for an excuse to bite us.

They can only do a half baked job anyway on assisting us with these issues, and Australians are no longer safe in Indonesia. They cant even provide for their own people.

I am usually a person who looks at both sides of the fence, and i have never been this passionate about being on the side of reason ever. take a look at yourselves Indonesia, weve tried to be your mate, weve helped you out forever yet you stab us in the back first chance you get. You wonder why life deals you blows, Karma is a wonderful thing.

Mr Kevin has long argued that the sinking of Siev X can be laid at Australia’s door step, maybe he is right.
Once again people in fear of their well being seek protection as refugees for whom Australia is bound to provide residence pending legal assessment of their claim. Yet it is not in these days, if it ever was so simple, for the national control which was to be partially vested in an international body with rights obligations and legal principles is it seem likely to be replaced again by politics. Howard has said sovereignty is Indonesia’s. Does this imply that threatened people objecting to what they and NGO’s claim is threatened existence, thus breaking local laws, can no longer become refugees?
Though from dreadful Iraq about which the hype of the media focused attention on persecution of people opposing Saddam, thus flouting of Iraq law. Equivalence? maybe. A question of law. None the less much rhetoric is given to law and order, even international obligations the practice is still National interest not concern for humans.
Moral if you want to object do not call on fair play, morality or any other past ethical concern just take the consequences, if the fight grows you name will be on the martyrs sheet and frequently voiced by politicians seeking glory by association

Fear not little people, and take heart in our fearless leader when he said "We will decide who comes here, and the circumstances under which they come." I agree they do seem ungratefull, however they recieved more financial help the the suvivors of Cyclone Larry, but there again, I guess they are Australians, would not want a preceedent set would we.

North Queensland is the fruit bowl of Australia, our infrastructure is a bloody disgrace, we are in Northern Australia the first port of call to refugees, but we don't even have an all weather "National Highway" we had better send an alert out to our enemies, "don't invade in the wet season"

I find it rather offensive that any nation can have the gall to suggest that some places, no matter what the circumstances, are off limits as far as protection of refugees are concerned. The Indonesian request that visas be refused for Papuan boat people has conveniently sidestepped the fact that Australia and PNG are the nearest countries to West Papua and therefore are, whether we like it or not, the place of first assylum.

To suggest that a genuine political refugee should apply for a visa from inside the country that is allegedly persecuting him is nonsense. They MUST have a right of first assylum in the countries nearest to them so they can pursue their claims without duress.

This situation is completely different to that of middle eastern refugees who not only left their place of first assylum but also travelled through many other nations with a view to by-passing the established refugee assessment and processing procedures.

The Indonesians are not just asking the executive arm of government to interfere in the proper exercise of delegated legal authority in respect of all West Papuans. They are also demanding that we commit serious and fundamental breaches of human rights, under threat of retribution. And if they will do that, openly, then pity help the Papuan activists that do not get away.

I predict there will be a pressing need for independent observers to patrol the sea gap between West Papua and Australian/PNG waters to ensure that refugees that are intercepted by the Indonesians do not go to a watery grave. To ignore injustice is to condone it.

The Prime Minster has airily dismissed Indonesia’s reaction to the issue of TPV’s to West Papuans as simply a rough patch in the relationship, confidently saying that we will “sail” through it. The Foreign Ministers has a similarly nonchalant attitude.

Big mistake. Start airing the beds in detention centres. If Indonesia does what its president has hinted at, we are again in for a rush of illegal entrants. Our border “protection” without the cooperation of Indonesia is a joke. We may as well send out an open house invitation. The increased surveillance of the north really means that illegals will be found, escorted to Australia and eventually given protection visas.

Despite Mr. Howard’s tough talk, simply arriving here generally means staying here.

For every one person who becomes a refugee, how many have been tortured and murdered?

This is why the Javanese Empire is so upset.
Confirming that these people are refugees because they have a well founded fear of persecution, means the Australian Immigration Department confirms that torture and murder are commonly used by that Empire.

The bizarre refugee treaties and laws which were inflicted on the people of Australia, not voted for, need to be urgently re-examined.
They are completely unbalanced.

How can we be willing to protect people who can prove their friends and relatives were murdered and tortured without doing anything to remove the cause of the problem?

If we accept refugees we must have the right to sort out the problem that is causing refugees. Otherwise we simply have an endless uncontrolled immigration programme for traumatised people.

The other approach is to lock up the borders and say it's your country, you sort it out (the Foreign Affairs Departments choice).

This is the choice we face right across the world, and is the same choice that is always faced by civilized people dealing with barbarians.

I am not advocating either choice, simply saying that the halfway policy we use at the moment is unsustainable.

In an ever more over-populated world, this problem is not going to go away.