Pathetic responses in the most part to this interesting article. And nobody seems to have answered the first point made in the article. I'll ask it:

Why as a Sydneysider should I have to put up with aliens - be they from Afghanistan or Armidale come into my city? People get very protective about who comes into this country. I'm saying in regard to Sydney that we will decide who enters our city and the manner in which they come.

And if you want to take parochialism even further then I draw the line at who enters Marrickville LGA. But I've made my point.

The following poem is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The United States has had an open immigration policy for a significant part of its existence. The wretched refuse has contributed to making the United States of America the greatest nation on earth.

Please, Lyndon, stick to the facts! You describe the outrage that supposedly would occur if Melburnians were prevented from settling in Sydney. The fact is that there is at present an area of New South Wales that outsiders cannot settle in, which is Lord Howe Island.

The realistic fact is that if you want worldwide freedom of labour movement you would have to abolish minimum wages. I would love to have a bangladeshi girl in the house, doing all the cooking, washing and ironing. I would feed her, house her, and give her $20 per week pocket money. Unfortunately minimum wage laws make this impossible, so I do all this myself, as I am not paying Australian rates.

If you had unlimited immigration there would be a large number that no-one would employ, making them an unbearable burden on the welfare system. During the Sydney Olympics the airlines demonstrated that they could fly in a million a week, and I think we could expect the same today.

The UK had a completely open door policy during the 19th century until the passage of the Aliens Restriction Act pf 1914. As far as I know the only country with such a policy today is Israel, but of course only for Jews.

We should go back to using the term "alien". This is widely used overseas, especially in the US, where a visitor has the status of a legal alien. It emphasises the vast gulf between a citizen and an outsider.

Historically, an outsider requires leave before entering another country. Entry without leave constitutes invasion. Ask any aboriginal.

New Zealand was mentioned as a country with which we could unite. I suggest you ask any New Zealander. Remember they are the original failed state, hsving failed to join the federation in 1901.

<< If Australia were to propose such an organisation [a human union], or seek others to join the initial nucleus of such an organisation, Australia would be making a genuine contribution to dealing with the problem of asylum seekers rather than simply guarding its tribal privileges against less fortunate fellow humans. >>

Lyndon, I don’t buy this notion of a human union as being the answer to greater freedom and equality. And I don’t think ‘tribalism’ is the problem here.

It is very clear to me what Australia needs to do in reference to asylum seekers and refugees. We need to have tightly controlled borders that strongly discourage asylum seeking, both onshore by boat and inshore via plane (students, visa overstayers and the like, who apply for residency outside of our formal immigration program).

At the same time we need to boost our refugee intake as part of our formal immigration intake and boost international aid to at least 0.7% of GDP, especially in relation to the causal factors of refugeeism.

We also need to stabilise our own population and develop a political regime based on genuine sustainability.

And we’ll be able to do this much more effectively if we retain full control of our nation rather than if we become part of a greater union, in which there would very likely be a lot of pressure from Asian countries with much large populations than us to increase our immigrant intake to even higher levels than the current record rate.

Incidentally, we could greatly reduce our immigration rate, to about 30 000 per annum and double the refugee intake to about 25 000 at the same time.

No, these rather ethereal notions of a human union and tribalism just don’t seem to me to be particularly relevant to our responsibilities to both secure a healthy future for our nation and to do our bit to help those less well off around the world.

Lyndon,

You naughty boy.

Don't you know Rudd, his labor mates and the media have banned any discussion of illegal immigration into this country.

Did you know the last boat load of illegals arrived Tuesday. It was the 54th this year. That boat with the 78 Tamils who blackmailed their way here was about the 45th.

SSSSSSHHHHH now. Don't talk about it! You'll only stir up the natives.

God alone knows how many more times we are going to have to put up with these pseudo humanitarian outpourings ... and then along comes Storey with his angle of trying to awaken a sense of guilt in those who dont subscribe to his ideas. It doesnt work that way, Storey.

Australia has the right to decide who comes and who doesnt come into the country-not people like you.

You know,guys, these specious arguments were thrashed a long time ago in countries like Holland, Belgium and the UK and look what it's got them. Ask any of them today if we should follow their fallacies and be "as humane" and see what sort of answer you get.
It seems that the scene of this debate has shifted to Australia. All I can say is ... Those who dont learn from history are bound to make the same mistakes.
The time isnt far off before we are going to have to open our doors to all those displaced from submerged countries in the Pacific area of the world.And we shall happily take them all in. We are related.I want to be the first to welcome them as they land or fly into Australia.
We are NOT a racist country but we arent a stupid bloody lot either, despite all the air time cretins like Storey get.

socratease