I think they sniffed out a Labor victory.Now let's see.Indonesia has 250 million,China 1300 million,India 1000 million,surely the tax payers of Aust can afford to keep a few million economic refugees who are over populating their own countries.After all,we have a bottomless pit of money.

We give them our manufacturing jobs,sell them energy so the demand escallates prices,thus lowering our living standards.Kevin could just print more when the well runs dry.We could call it Kevinomics.The good thing about becoming a third world nation is that you have more time to contemplate your navel and you don't have to pay any tax,you don't have Govt bureaucrats bleeding your business dry.Everyone can live in the equality of poverty and only
have to worry about where the next meal is coming from.This would be left wing nervana.

It will be interesting to see the value of the Aussie dollar in 12mths time.

So gracious in defeat.

BD

"It would be a refreshing change if we could stick to the issue rather than trying to undermine people's character."

I agree entirely. It is you though who has premised this whole thread on character assassination right from the beginning. Your statement that these boat people have made their living STEALING fish from Australian waters clearly undermines the character of these Indonesian families, or don't THEIR characters count?

I agree with freediver and fluff4 that we need more information about the history and the fairness of the Indonesian and Australian fishing borders before this debate can proceed with any integrity and certainly before we can legitimately label these people as thieves.

To use your vegie garden analogy, if you arbitrarily changed the borders between our properties to increase the size of your land and I continued to garden in soil which was once mine but had since become yours, many would argue that irrespective of the new legalities of the situation I still had a certain degree of right on my side.

We must also remember that, rightly or wrongly, many Indonesians most probably regard Australia as being excessively greedy in regards to this whole fishing situation. They see us as a wealthy country with a large land mass and a sparse population of 20 million, while they struggle with a population of well over 200 million squeezed into a small mass of islands and with the majority of them barely managing to eke out a decent existence.

We need a bit of perspective in this argument BD.

Boazy: "Run that figure around in your heads 4 a while.. 250 MILLION...."

Don't you just love the way that xenophobes try to ratchet up their fear and loathing campaign with wildly inflated figures? The estimates are that there may be 250 million people displaced worldwide over the next half century. Nobody's suggesting that anything like that number should come to Australia.

That one's even sillier than a certain claim a while ago that 20 million Bangladeshi refugees were set to invade Norway.

It's just stupid dog-whistling - aimed at particularly dumb dogs too, apparently.

Boazy,they are not Taswegians.The place is called Tasjerkistan.They are Tasjerkistanians.They are fearful of having sex in case they become more inbred.As reflected in the name they can only have sex with themselfs.This is why their populations is fallings.

Borat is lookings to retire there in the near futures when he finishing with all the other Stans.Did you know there is a place called Icantstan.Infacts,Borat can't stand anyone.

Arjay... yes, I smiled at your post :)

FREEDIVER.. I'm questioning your ownership of your back yard.. and I'll be around in a few minutes to relieve you of your possessions..... happy now ? :) that simply shows how absurd is your statement "if the ownership is disputed"...great SCOTT.. why don't I dispute the ownership of BALI..and claim I can go there and take its produce..

I mean...come ON.... There might be a dispute.. but there is no basis for it. So, tough biccies for them. 'Our' Fish.. not theirs. Go Home Indonesian fish thieves!