At least Divergence made an effort to relate their comment to the original article - if only so they could then run an anti-migration line.

The notion that "The harsh treatment of this particular family ..... can be reasonably attributed to the Howard government's attempt to deflect attention from its mass migration policy" is an interesting one. I think the government made plenty of political gain out of demonising asylum seekers from the Middle East - they didn't really need a secondary reason. In any case, the relatively large migration intake is hardly a secret, althouh I guess picking on a few easy targets and painting them as 'undesirables' may help assuage xenophobes.

I can't comment on the USA, beyond saying their labour and welfare systems are very different to here, even if Mr Howard is moving things somewhat in that direction. I have seen no substantial research which shows migration to have harmed the living standards of blue collar workers in Australia. I have seen research to the contrary, and that took a very narrow, short-term view of costs and benefits - which would normally underestimate the positives.

By contrast, Horus, having had attention drawn to his litany of incorrect assertions, does nothing to correct them but instead just further changes the topic - to something even more off-topic. Apparently speaking out about injustice has to be matched by monetary contributions in Horus' curious universe. Overt display of charitable giving have been rightly bagged since (at least) Jesus' time, but Horus seems to want a 'public acts of charity' competition - I wonder how he'd go?

Nothing more needs to be said about SCOTTY's contributions after his last effort - "this country wasn't stolen, we got it fair and square"?!

Well beam me up scotty!

Gee do you feel better now that you got that off your chest?

If the ADF is full of people like you we have a much more serious problem in our hands than a cheeky Mufti.

Andrew says:
“By contrast, Horus, having had attention drawn to his litany of incorrect assertions, does nothing to correct them”

What incorrect assertions were those Andrew?
The Sarwari family was not the only family/group you championed.
Its was merely the one you choose to highlight on this occasion, since you no doubt thought it had more potential to “prick the conscience of the” electorate.

My (very salient) point was that you failed to mention the manner in which “most” refugees from the Middle East arrive here. As any school boy knows (though apparently NOT some politicians) to get to Aust. from Afghanistan or Iraq you have to by-pass or pass-through some 13 countries. Apparently the Democrats believe that the refugees suddenly materialized just outside our territorial waters (talk about ‘beam me up Scotty’ –where are they beaming down from ? -must be another Bermuda Triangle out there!)

The reality is the refugees have often landed in such intermediary countries – stayed in such countries for long periods of time ( unmolested – I might add)- but never once sought to legitimize their stay– you see they had a particular location in mind -from day one. They’d clearly been well briefed about you, Andrew, with you big heart & even bigger tax-payers cheque book).

And please don’t feed me that line that they were ‘running from extremism’. Since to get to Aust. they had to by-pass or pass-through such MODERATE, Moslem states as Jordan & Kuwait ( who despite not being signatories to Refugee Conventions –DO accept Iraqi refugees) and/ or such MODERATE, Moslem states as Malaysia & Indonesia .

Andrew,its strange that your concern for the refugees human rights ,whilst in refugee camps, does not carry through to concerns for their human rights threatened by traditional values systems, once they settle. But I guess there are more brownie points to be gained from slaying “rednecks” than challenging feudal values & patriarchal overloads.

And as for my question about your own contributions to charity.
“I AM SORRY IF YOU & SOME OTHER PEOPLE FIND[the question] SO CONFRONTING”

Well at least Andrew is out there, publlicy known, doing what he believes in, open to scrutiny, not hiding in here in OLO like a mongrel dog barking in the dark.

THe World now has close to 7 billion people.Many who now want to flee to Australia cannot make their own political and economic system work.If their attitudes and level of education have brought chaos to their beloved lands,what will these same attitudes do for Australia?China, one of the most densely populated countries on the planet is booming.They take no cultures that are averse to their own.

Why do we punish ourselves with cultures who basically hate our guts?

Arjay, can you tell me more about the thinking behind your statement

"If their attitudes and level of education have brought chaos to their beloved lands,what will these same attitudes do for Australia?"

In Australia, the loss of skilled workers (the so-called 'brain drain') has been offset by a gain of migrants through skilled migration programs.

This clearly suggests people are immigrating here for work not political reasons.

And it should be noted that at least one quarter of the current Australian population were born outside Australia.