Dear oh dear! I've been away from OLO for a few weeks, and what do I find on my return? People uncritically churning out all the old trite nonsense about "illegals" (they haven't been assessed yet so they must be illegal). And the weakening of border security (without any capacity to spot historical non-sequiturs).

It's all that nice young man Kevin's fault. They're all hanging on to his every word in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. If only we could have kept Honest John, he'd know how to manage the media!

I think I'd better go somewhere else to find intellectual honesty and logical rigour.

I'm with you Spikey, I think OLO has been hit early with the swine virus, with a particularly nasty variation called zenophobia. There are only a small number of infected parties but they have swept through OLO sneezing violently on anyone trying to bring some balance and compassion to the current hysteria on asylum seekers(particularly those evil and naive academics who spend far too much time thinking). Better go and have a rest now with my mask on.

The Howard govt turned itself inside out to excise huge slices of the migration zone as part of its manic determination to repel 'boat people'. The Pacific Solution fiasco underpinned the 'illegal boat people' wedge Howard launched in 2001. I was part of the PM's task force that worked on these issues.

Sadly, the 'dog whistle' has been sounded loud and clear by Turnbull et al, and the 'xenophobe' crowd have responded with alacrity. Within their simple-minded construct it's all the Rudd government's fault! Labor instigated a more humane approach to refugees, although it could be improved by taking the Christmas Island stopover out of the equation. Rudd abolished the egregious TPV regime, which was a violation of refugee rights and a nasty scar on our human rights landscape.

Some of the comments here explain why the Coalition politicizes refugees. The posture is so effective - and is'nt it great to hear back from that bastion of 'multilateralism', erstwhile FM Downer on how his mates would have handled this situation? How can anyone forget the Libs' response to Tampa and kids overboard?

Yes, blame the victims for their own plight, extract as much sensationalism out of the role of people smugglers, put words in the mouth of ADF personnel who cannot answer for themselves, and then whip up public sentiment against refugees. Throw in dollops of confected outrage over your political opponents complete lack of preparedness to face down the 'threat' and you have your stock in trade 'dog whistle' response to the terrible plight of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

Oh, I forgot - then you can set about making weak neighbouring countries complicit in policies that violate human rights!

The cruel stupidity of the Howard Govt saw asylum seekers ending up in an excised area, unable to access the same legal rights as those who reach our migration zone. The recent case of 29 asylum seekers deposited on an offshore rig brought the small-mindedness of the previous regime back into sharp focus. Labor must align our Migration Act with international law and refugee conventions.

Susan Metcalfe’s article is packed full of misrepresentations:

1) The boat people are :“ people who cannot find safe haven through official resettlement programs”.
Actually – most of such arrivals were never in any refugee camp, or resettlement programs – they simply took it upon themselves to shoulder their way to the front of the queue.

2) “Some countries DEAL WITH thousands arriving directly by land routes over borders; Australia intercepts small numbers of asylum seekers coming by boat and air”
Blurs the fact that most of those coming by land route to other countries (Pakistan/Indonesia) never end up with citizenship in those countries – Australia’s incoming more often than not do .

3) “Some travelled by boat to Australia because it was the cheapest of the options offered by agents” .
After flying into Indonesia and , having a Thomas Cook for years. The final leg by small, leaky boat is partly to avoid airport security – but largely, stage managed to pluck the heart strings of the gullible .

4) Re:“softer policies”
Whatever the substance of Labors new stand – Labors electioneering rhetoric –portrayed itself as unwinding Howard’s draconian policies. You don’t need satellite dishes & CNN or even, twitter, to received the message that things might be easier under a labour govt , just a few savvy letter-writing relatives.
--Another factor that has up till now been overlooked is the antics of “refugee advocates” in selling Aust as a soft-target – some of whom you might remember have publicly offered to house & hide illegals from the authorities .
---And for yet another factor: set the parameters on Aust and Google “refugee”. You’ll be blown-away with the barrage of material selling the refugees cause , everything from Refugee Advocate groups , to immigration agents and lawyers spruiking services , to sympathetic lefty news sites , to official Dept Of Immigration briefs on Rights of Refugees, to information kits for teachers and students– all presenting the pro-cause , all shouting to any would be refugee :“Come on-a my house my house, I'm gonna give you candy”

Nicely put Donkey!

It IS good to see some countering of the usual tripe, appearing here, though I did think of leaving this thread to the z-phob's so that they could exercise their intolerant bile to the full.

If not checked, it would have been interesting to see how far they would go.

Ginx

Perhaps a discussion thread could be set-up called "SPEW".

See how far people can go in venting their bile.

The 'winner' receives a white cloak and pointy white dunce's cap.