OK,so I'm a 'heartless bastard' for advocating tough measures on those seeking to impose themselves on us and take advantage of our goodwill and generousity. I'm perfectly willing to help and extend a hand to genuine refugees but the boat people are nothing more than gate crashers. The story of seeking safety and refuge just doesn't wash. There are plenty of countries that have signed the same treaty as us, that are much closer and easier to get to than Aus. Check the UN list and have a look at a map.

I do totally hold those that hijacked the Tampa responsible for the loss of those 350 people on the Siev X. I remain convinced that had the Tampa been allowed to take those rescued to Indonesia the Siev X would not have sailed. Those rescued by the Tampa had an obligation to tell their rescue story to the others waiting to sail, about the dangers of the voyage. But no, the selfish bastards were only concerned for their own financial goals.

I have spent years working in a local service club, helping others, I applauded the NT intervention because of my concern for the kids, I applaud the recent announcement that all welfare recipients will be subject to spending controls, again for the benefit of the kids, I cried about the Tarthra tradgety and for little Sophie and others, I honour the sacrifices made by our diggers on Rememberance and Anzac Day.

But I do not feel for the Bali bombers, or the Bali nine and that dum dum that was hanged in Signapore a year or so ago, or for Corby. They were aware of and knew the consequences of their actions. And I want strong deterants for the illegal boat people. If that makes me heartless then so be it.

Why is there this hang up up on boat people? Far more refugee applicants arrive by plane than by boat. Then there are those on business and student visas who claim refugee status and backpackers who overstay. I agree the number of refugees in the world is a challenge to our compassion. Perhaps we should only take refugees and scrap the social engineering contained in our immigration program. Of the 15 male Hazara refugees that worked at the Mudgee Abattoir until it's closure, all are in employment,none have ever sought government unemployment assistance and all their kids are doing well at school and uni.
Their story is like that of my great granparents and for that reason alone I can't understand why there should be two sets of rules, one that is OK for my anglo and celtic rellies and another for people from other parts of the world.
franklin, how dare you point me in the direction of Andrew Bolt. He had the arrogance and stupidity to publicly deny my own story. He didn't ring to discuss his belief, he just published. A particular sort of gutlessness from a man who has achieved little with his own life. I note he counts amongst his friends Alexander Downer, the architect of the Pacific solution and by that friendship alone Bolt should be judged.
Bruce Haigh

Porky: << I'm all for a VERY tough line against the boat people.. >>

Such a great example of Christian compassion.

Banjo: << OK,so I'm a 'heartless bastard'... >>

OK Banjo - you're a selectively heartless bastard.

Bruce Haigh: << Perhaps we should only take refugees and scrap the social engineering contained in our immigration program. >>

That's precisely what I've advocated several times in this forum.

An important and timely article, David.

Yours and Phil Glendenning's efforts are greatly appreciated by the many Australians who do indeed feel their humanity has been compromised by the callous return of these asylum seekers to their fate. Don't be deterred by the complete lack of humanity in some of the responses here. Some amongst us don't care, but most do. Australia needs to know exactly how many of these deaths it has on its conscience. And most importantly now, we all have to make sure there are no more of them happening in our name.

Polycrap

"Last year, we had SIX boats.. now.. as soon as Nauru etc have been dismantled....and some other measures loosened up.. suddenly we have as many boats of illegals in a month as we did in a year........"

Setting sail across an ocean on a small rotting vessel is a risky gamble at the best of times. There's a small window of opportunity between the cold winter and the summer storm season when the odds of surviving such a perilous journey are slightly higher. That's the reason boats have been intercepted recently. It's not a result, as you claim, of a loosening-up of measures.

The Rudd Government is not making it any easier to gain asylum in Australia than its predecessor did. Boat arrivals are still being kept off the mainland - admittedly not on Nauru, but on Christmas Island - a little closer and a little more civilised, but not a whole lot different really. Detainees are not being locked up as they were and attempts are being made to speed up the assessment process, but there is absolutely no guarantee the end result will be any more lenient to that arrived at previously.

Bruce and CJ

"Perhaps we should only take refugees and scrap the social engineering contained in our immigration program."

I agree. Let's have more assistance to refugees in desperate need of a new start, and much less of the selfish poaching of migrants from countries who can ill afford to lose them.

Surely nobody buys into this? You'd think leftist bleeding hearts would hate them. It's tantamount to the rich Afghani's getting out while the poorest can't do a damn thing.

Let them in because they look different and whites used to own slaves. What garbage.

Best way to help them is to smash their vile, misoginistic, tribal desert culture values and replace them with superior and civilised western ones.

There I said it.

That way we help all of them! I'm the ultimate leftist! It just means you have to use the military and kill those who don't want to be western (although they do because it's so obvious our values are superior - the only person I've heard of that's travelled the other way was David 'hillbilly' Hick...yes...Hick...not Hicks.

There is still a lot of emotion and spin going on here..

CJ says (quoting Bruce)'scrap the social engineering in immigration'

Now.. CJ.. can you show me how that differs from my claim that Immigration is POLITICAL.. i.e.. socially engineered?

I completely agree.. EXCEPT.. in that I would hastily add, that our national/cultural/political and social interest must ALways come first in the determination of suitability of refugees. To not do so is to shoot one's self in the foot.

You and I both know, you would never accept Palestinians from refugee camps on Lebanon where they maintain a hard line anti Israels existence political line.. as you would realize that they would simply bring those hatreds to here and endanger the nearest synagogue.

You, and I would both accept genuine Palestinians who did not hold such views.. but ONLY (in my case) in very limited and managable numbers.

What you and Bronny and some others seem to miss (or..for political reasons deliberately ignore) is that boat people are as much about social engineering as the 'Busines migration' or.. 'blue collar Skills' migration programs of the Coalition and Labor.

You can call me a heartless this or that till the cows come home *mooooo*...I never respond well to shallow emotive (politically based?) arguments nor to the 'ur a bad Christian' mantra :) sorrrrrry!

You see.. I don't care if it's labor or coalition or green policy.. as long as it is GOOD policy and puts our national interest first and is based on the lessons of history and social dynamics.