There seems to be a strong link between being a (professed) Christian, and being singularly uncharitable to fellow human beings.

Am I the only one to notice this?

Thanks for all of your comments to date - I have been learning the "rules of debate" - at least as all of you have been stating them along the way.

So let's cut to the chase. I am not being namby pamby by voicing my outrage about racism - just sensible - if one group can be outed today then what guarantee is there that another (mine or yours) will not be next? That is the lesson of history that I am afraid that I have learned based on both the Nazi and the Communist experiences.

That said - let me move on to a more interesting question.

Assuming that international law does give a country a right to set quotas and to select from among the millions who have been classified as refugees can we afford to have any more people coming to Australia at all?

If the pundits are right then we have stuffed up our use of the meagre water resources in this country to such an extent that we no longer have adequate water supplies for people to drink - much less use for the disposal of their waste products.

I for one do not wish to get to the stage where some international organisation uses pictures of Australians in it's adverts seeking donations to help US get access to clean and fresh water supplies.

So here is the question Can we afford to have more people (regardless of their creed or colour or ethnic origin) in this country at all?

If the answer is YES but the numbers have to be really small then do we have the right to make pre-conditions about that intake based NOT on any racist views but simply on adequate distribution of resources that are available?

It is here that we start to consider questions about WHO we take, for what purpose, with what intent and under what conditions.

Whoops - almost missed this little extra piece of news!

"The Human Rights Commissioner has labelled the Federal Government's stance on African refugees as "un-Australian"."

"Commissioner Graham Innes says singling out a particular race goes against Australian values."

"I think it is troubling to single out one community or group as not settling and integrating well and it is not the Australian way to deal with refugees," he said.

"People shouldn't be treated differently on the basis of race or ethnic origin," Mr Innes said.

Does this mean that the Minister for Immigration would not pass the new citizenship test - were he to sit for it?

There is a wider question to answer, garpet 1, before you can sensibly address the question of how many, and from where.

And that is simply this: do you regard yourself as a citizen of Australia, or of the world?

It may sound like a trite question - maybe it is a trite question - but the outlook of the individual will ultimately determine their answer to this issue. It is not really a matter of "which argument will ultimately hold sway", but how many people care enough to look outside their own country, their own town or city, their own suburb or even their own family.

I know people who look down upon their neighbouring suburb, as somehow being unworthy of help or support. I know people who maintain a pointless rivalry between Cities or States within Australia. These folk are far more likely to batten down the hatches when they see "foreigners" arriving in their street.

But what saddens me most, I think, is the utterly parochial and singularly antipathetical attitude of those supposedly religious people, who turn out not to have a charitable bone in their bodies.

My own position, as an immigrant myself, is that there should be few significant barriers to people making their homes here. I think we should continue with the normal "economic" immigration processes, where particular talents are preferred at different times. And I think we should fully participate in welcoming our fair share of international refugees.

Pericles

One of the consequences of globalisation and diversified mass immigration has been an increasing awareness of how much Australia has become part of the global village. While some Australians are still dramatising fears about the security of our borders, many other Australians see themselves as cosmopolitan - they work and travel in the world actually or virtually, raising speculation on how much longer old borders between nations will have any further relevance.

Papastergiadis has suggested that the place of belonging can no longer be purely geographic (a sense of place) or historical (a sense of connection) because it is “cross-cut by a variety of global forces.” (Dialogues in the Diasporas: Essays and Conversations on Cultural Identity, Rivers Oram Press, London and New York, 1998, p. 1.)

The Jewish Diaspora began with the exile of Judaeans to Babylonia in 586 BC and despite the formation of modern Israel, continues unabated - as does the Greek, Italian, Chinese and Indian diasporas, just by way of examples.

At any one time some 5% of the Australian population are living abroad including my daughter and granddaughter. They are part of the Aussie Diaspora. Our immigration program has to take account of the loss of at least 50-60,000 people every year when it’s calculating the net migration target every year. The migration program recognises that business globalisation has resulted in a major flow of people who often do not intend to stay in Australia permanently.

Mass movements of people is not a recent phenomenon. People who get their knickers in a knot about a few thousand 'Africans' (a consciously coded term for some) have a very narrow view of the world.

We live on the dryest continent on earth.

We are in the worst drought in living memory.

We have too many of our own poor and dispossesed.

Aborigines live like dogs on missions.

Why do we need to bring more people here? Especially those whom are not going to integrate, are going to cause us to have more police, will probably never work and will breed like rabbits.

We should be working to help these people in thier own countries, its not sustainable to bring them here.

We need to have a national referendum on refugees and immigration, guaranteed it would stop overnight. The silent majority are fed up with the left and middle right hijacking this country to make themselves feel good about being progressive whites while selling the rest of us out.

In life we get to play the hand that was dealt to us, they live where they are and we live here. Why would we want them?