Excellent article - hear, hear! Dog-whistling about asylum seekers is a strategy that worked extremely well for the Coalition in the past, and in their current desperate straits they're again seeking to attract support from the racist underbelly of the Australian electorate.

Undoubtedly more than a few of them will once again peddle their hateful tripe in response to this timely article.

What is often forgotten in these forums is that there is a quota on how many asylum seekers are permitted entry into the country per year.

For every immigrant that comes in illegally and costs the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars before being accepted, there is another applicant, probably far more deserving, that falls off the list.

The total number remains the same.

The average cost per boat person is in the order of $10 000 which he pays, and $200 000 per person for detention and processing.

This money could feed and clothe 400 people for a year in the most desperate areas.

While the boat people's situation is poor compared to Australian standards, it is rich compared to those whose places they have purchased.

The boat people are far from the innocent victims portrayed in this post.

Well said Shadow Minister, totally agree with your comments.

Besides these illegal immigrants taking the place of an already more deserving, processed refugee, who may be considered a better prospect of integrating into the main stream Australian culture.

The on-going costs of the illegals to the Australian Taxpayers in housing,medical,welfare,education,legal and family re-unions for people who probably don't really like us or our way of life, and who's off-springs will more than likely be part of an "ethnic gang" causing havoc on the streets of our cities in the future is a no brainer.
Olbe

Olbie says;

"The on-going costs of the illegals to the Australian Taxpayers in housing,medical,welfare,education,legal and family re-unions for people who probably don't really like us or our way of life, and who's off-springs will more than likely be part of an "ethnic gang" causing havoc on the streets of our cities in the future is a no brainer."

What a load of rubbish. If they are asylum seekers and granted refugee status, as has just occurred today for those on the boat that was burnt, they are not illegals! It sounds like the ghosts of John Howard past? I had hoped we had moved on...

I would also suggest that refugees may potentially make better citizens than do normal immigrants as they have risked more to come to our country and on what possible evidence can you say they don't like us or our way of life?

I am not privy to the data but I doubt that the acceptance of "boat refugees" reduces the number of refugees taken from camps around the world...I would like to see evidence that there is a quota before accepting Shadow Minister's claim.

The cost of refugees to Australia is trivial in global terms as there is an international crisis in refugee movements. Part of the reason that historically the detention costs were so high was the obscene delay in being processed.

Be positive, it provides work for Christmas Island residents and gives the Navy some practice.

Further to Olbe's remarks, the "ethnic gangs" he refers to are presumably of Lebanese extraction and I would venture to suggest that these off springs' parents were not refugees but bona fide immigrants.

So where is the relationship to illegals?

Peter King,

Perhaps you should educate yourself before you comment:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=NrYcbB2JxBMC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=australia+refugee+quota&source=bl&ots=oxjZs7xrlG&sig=YAJ3LPk8rdzDaW7xp9NjB1Tl9kw&hl=en&ei=kLjSStvBEpLmswP2ydXvCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCIQ6AEwBg&safe=active#v=onepage&q=australia%20refugee%20quota&f=false

"Julia Gillard, believes the number of refugees being accepted by Australia is right for now.

During the election campaign both major parties rejected the suggestion of increasing Australia's intake of humanitarian refugees above the annual cap of 12,000.

We're at 12,000 now, I think that's probably about right for now."

The detainees have entered the country (immigrated) illegally and until they are given legal status they are illegal immigrants.