Boys,boys, please why cant we have some common equanimity instead of bitter recriminations, abuse and name calling. Is it brinkmanship, we are targeting, or some illusive masculine penis envy ? Whatever, in essence, you've become the laughing stock of OLO, squabbling amongst yourselves, like galahs in a chook-pen. All parroting aimlessly, as to who should become ' boss cocky '.
Who really cares ?

There is no better fool, than an old fool.

That this debate, in my recollection has been ' done-over ' 6x times. from all perspectives, with well over 300 responses and opinions, is proof-positive, there will NEVER be consensus.

Without adding fuel to the inferno, we should all settle down, and rationally explore the equation. Rudd and Gillard are absolutely right in calling for a revamp of our Educational system, with emphasis on numeracy, literacy, and importantly our History.

Timeline milestones.
1824-1908. Aust Racial History encompassing Qld, NSW, WA, SA, Tas, & NT. Genesis of the Stolen Generation. Genocide. Mass annihilation of the Aboriginal ( Indegenous ) Race.
1850. Gold Rush. Lambing Flat debacle.
1860-61. Kanaka deportations
1901-1972. Architect: Alfred Deakin. " WAP discriminates against people according to their skin colour. Was based on the assumption that some one with a " white " skin is superior to a person with a different skin colour. This implies that customs, values, ans beliefs of people with white skin were also superior."
This policy is an example of overt discrimination, racism and xenophobia at it's worst.

1901. Immigration Restriction Act. One of the first Acts of Aust New Parliament, upon Federation.
1958. Migration Act.
1971-75. Vietnamese boat asylum seekers arrive.
1973.WAP for all practically purposes considered defunct ?
1975. Gough Whitlam introduces Racial Descrimination Act.
2001. Tampa Affair, involving another Nation.i.e. Norway.
2004.SievX Affair.
2005. Cronulla Riots.
2007. Pauline Hanson's One Naion Party emerge.
2009. Attacks on Indian students. Sri Lankan refugees arrive.

It wasn't only Howard who trumped the Race card, to boost his credentials / credibility and win Elections. Manifestly, it was a reckless gambit employed by Barton, Hughes, Stanley Bruce, Arthur Calwell and Harold Holt.

Politicians of all persuasions, at one time or another, resort to gutter tactics.

" There are only two forces that unite men: fear and self-interest " Napoleon Bonaparte.
" Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the adult afraid of the Light ? " Anonymous.

Xenophobia: Fear or dislike of strangers or the unknown, sometimes used to describe Nationalistic Political beliefs and movements. Used extensively in Fictional work, to describe morbid fears and dislikes of Space Aliens !

Phobias, fears,anxieties, manias, terrors, panics, and angst all contribute to our abhorrence of certain situations and things. If allowed to take possession of the mind, these insights become self-forged chains.

So what may I ask, with a History spanning two centuries, amply documented in the National Archives (ACT) and Libraries, throughout the land, can we seriously exculpate ourselves from ?

Grim wonders why the refugees can't work while their claims are being processed. I think we would be foolish to allow this with the way some groups in the world are intent on violence to get their own way.

Many refugees arrive without any identification. Processing their claims and obtaining information about them may take ages. Allowing them unsupervised into the community would be madness until we know they won't prove to be a problem.

I get angry thinking about all the awful refugee camps around the world where other poor souls are also trying to emigrate to Australia, and they will take much longer to get processed than those that push their way to the front of the cue by paying to get here illegally