Surely it is time for the Federal Government to resolve this whole illegal immigration mess by abrogating the Refugee Convention and bringing back the Dictation Test.

The world population is going to increase by at least 50% over the next 30 years, while the end of the age of cheap energy is going to cause substantial cuts in the standard of living everywhere. Australia does not have the space or the resources to make any impact whatever on this situation, and can only act to defend itself. It is not going to be a happy time to be alive.

Thank heavens we have a sea boundary.

The West is so easy to blame for everything. Yet nightly we see the bombing of civilians and religious places,suicide killers with no western association killing their own kind.
While some third world countries plead poverty, there is never a shortage of rifles and rocket throwers being paraded through the streets by brainwashed blood thirsty young men.
When our country was threatened by the enemy sixty years ago, we did not flee to another country begging "asylum", we fought for the ideals and the nation we believed in .
The West is not responsible for those who will not fight an honourable fight.

i believe the bakhtiyaris story and think the way they were treated is horrible. i would like to know how they are because i heard they were being shot at or were on the list to be shot at. i have heard they must pay about $500 000 just to come back into the country, this is a very expensive cost as my mum doesn't even make that much and she is a 'middle-class citizen' as someone put it. i also believe they are definitely not cheats and liars.

brown_eyed_girl,
There is an obvious lack of credibility in your conclusions. It semms to be based in emotional sympathy and not fact and law. There are 50,000,000 people who are equally deserving who would like to come to Australia; it is just that you have not heard their tearie story.

The Bakhtiyaris cannot come here as refugees as that claim has been rejected. They maybe able to come here as skilled migrants who impose no dependency on us as taxpayers. Hense the requirement of $500,000 to show they can add to Australia, and not continue their parasitic dependency. However since we treated them so badly according to you why would they want to come here? Its our welfare and free meal tickets isn't it?

I suggest you find recent refugees who have legally arrived in Australia; their stories are even more horrifying. They have been verified as genuine refugees. How about you try befriending a Sudanese family.

The fact that the Baktiyaris spent a short time in Pakistan does not alter the legitimacy of their claim.

Like thousands of others from Afghanistan, they fled over the border in fear of their lives but soon found Pakistan was not going to provide the safety they had hoped for. The Pakistani government supported the Taliban and forcibly returned many refugees, particularly those from the oppressed Hazara group as the Baktiyaris were.

Besides, other asylum seekers in Australia at that time were granted visas despite having lived several years in countries such as Pakistan and Iran.

Marilyn

Thank you for your article and for your selfless efforts in supporting refugees.

BOAZ_David

For someone who professes to be a Christian, you show a distinct lack of Christian charity. Perhaps you could quote some words of scripture that support your position.

And don't dig up some obscure text from the Old Testament. Quote the man himself from whom Christianity was named. I'm sure the Jesus Christ who showed kindness towards prostitutes and lepers would never turn his back on refugees.

Bronwyn,
Were the Bakhtiyaris in fear of their lives while in Indonesia? Indonesia is a moderate Muslim nation; they could have easity settled there.

There seems to be another purpose other than refuge that motivated them; and that was economic. So I believe they were economic opportunists, admiring our welfare system.

We pay taxes to acess our money if we fall on hard times. That every other poor person in the world sees it as their opportunity for a hand out is nothing more than envy and greed. Australians are generous when it comes to charity to needy peoples in catastrophic, oppressed and displaced situations. We want to determine who receives welfare from our savings. There are millions of more deserving people than the Bakhtiyaris, yet a few bleeding hearts have put all their energy into this one rather curious family.

I personally support destitute, oppressed a displaced peoples by giving finance to Aid Agencies working in Refugee and developing poor countries. It is better to assist these people in their own countries rather than bring them to Australia to live on our welfare system. A family receiving $200 each week in a poor country places them at the top of society. A family in Australia on $200 a week blaces them below the poverty line.