The Opposition policy on Assylum seekers is........
......to complain about the government's policy.....
...careful to avoid making any statements themselves, because they have no idea if following the Howard-era would make them MORE popular or LESS- because they're lazy wussies who never bother researching public mood.
Turnbull et al trying to woo the "Small l" and more liberalistic-Liberal voters by putting on the 'humane'-ish face just painted them into a corner.
Instead they assume everyone who supports it (may well be almost everyone- we have no idea) would 'read-between-the-lines' and support their criticism and ASSUME deep down they're really against boat people coming here.

Same deal with Rudd- he whipped up support of the pro-refugee electorate, but now he's worried that by going along with them he might alienate a potentially huge amount of swinging voters that demand stronger border controls.

The beauty of our system- little public input- but the public instead are a "great unknown" that lazy career politicians are afraid of at all times when it comes to popular policies.

That's correct. Political language on both sides regarding the "current" situation is informed ONLY by "let's appeal to as many people as we think we can, because that means we'll get more votes in the next election".

Humanity is a thing of the past ...... not that it ever 'really' existed within the Australian population. We're scared of 'outsiders' because we think they'll change Australia. We're scared they'll do to use what we've done to the aboriginal population.

Examinator,

When you post in a thread it is helpful to determine what the thread is about. Secondly reading a particular post before commenting on it is essential.

In this post neither of us commented on what the policy should be but only on how the issue is playing out. Likewise my comments have been on how Labor is making a complete horse's rs of it.

What is worse for Labor is that there is no obvious way out, and the coalition are not going to make it easy for them by doing offering one.

As for your comments,maybe you could enlighten us as to how with 1200+ detainees and payments to Indonesia to maintain their detention centres, how it is costing Australia any less financially and diplomatically.

Have they stood down any of the navy?
Is the cost of housing 1200 detainees more or less than the 100 odd previously?
Is the refugee issue receiving less attention internationally?
are the detainees in Indonesia being treated any better than on Nauru?

As the answer is no to all of the above, the situation is far worse now under Labor, and all the opposition need to do is make sure that it is foremost in the public's mind. With the popular perception that the boats are contrary to Australia's interests, it is only a matter of time before the issue erodes confidence in Labor.

TZ52HX: "let's appeal to as many people as we think we can, because that means we'll get more votes in the next election"

You say that like it is a bad thing, but it is what makes our democracy work. Would you prefer them to do whatever they liked, regardless of what the voters thought?

TZ52HX: "It's all about POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS ......... and stuff the asylum seekers: That's the basis of the opposition's attacks."

I see the job of the opposition as one of constantly probing, looking for weaknesses in government policy, and floating new alternate ideas to see how the electorate likes them. That is what the Liberals are doing. Good luck to them. Maybe they will find an idea that sticks.

By the by, they don't have much choice in the direction they push it. They can't push for a weaker immigration policy, as blind Freddy can see most of the Australian electorate doesn't want more immigrants arriving by whatever means. So they have to push for a stronger one. But while doing so they must also appear to be dealing with asylum seekers humanly. It is an impossible tightrope to walk - and thus the conflicting statements.

Still conflicting statements aren't necessarily a bad thing. They allow the Liberals to gauge the reaction to several positions at once, and then select the one that pisses off the least number of people.

Yes it's dirty, it's ugly, but it is how our democracy functions. As our democracy undeniably functions well, so I am loath to criticise it, or the how the Liberals are handing this for that matter.

"What is the Opposition's policy regarding the current asylum seekers controversy?"

My guess is the opposition does not have a firmly-held policy, but a whole bunch of individual ideas that are being floated by its stronger and more ambitious members. The overall ideal would be to be humane towards asylum seekers but in a way that maintains Australia's sovereignty. And that view would be at least tacitly held by both parties, I suspect.

In reality, it's likely that something will happen out of the blue that acts to steer public opinion in a particular direction. As they say, there's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. The trouble is no one really knows what that idea is. Given that, it's probably the smartest thing for the Opposition (and the Government for that matter) to have a fairly loose policy that gives an overall sense of what they want to achieve but that can adroitly react to events and circumstances as they play out. It makes sense for the parties to cover their bases so that a completely unexpected turn of events does not completely wrongfoot them. Until, that is, it becomes clear what the direction on asylum seekers is, and the parties can then build on their policies.

The truth is the policy (on both sides of politics) is still evolving in the crucible of public debate on the issue.

In an attempt to answer the question logically, I thought I'd try to work out what is the government's "policy regarding the current asylum seekers controversy", so that I could have some basis against which to measure the opposition's.... err, opposition to it.

Couldn't for the life of me work it out.

Can anyone help?