Would be better if we stopped being a signatory to the convention. The boats have not stopped and it is cylone season. Too risky for rescue boats this time of year. Sri Lanka can look after it's own people and soon the UN will update guidelines so last minute rush is on. The war ended, the camps are about over with. No reason for this surge if we were only accepting valid claims of persecution. It has become a joke. The US and EU are anti Sri Lanka because of their allegiance with Iran and China. Not our problem. We went along with their anti- Iraq, anti Afghanistan agendas. If they punish Sri Lanka for the last months of war then why not the US for their activities in Iraq? One rule for the large economies and another set for the smaller ones. No wonder there is rage against the west.

You are all missing the point.
With such large numbers of boats coming they are already running out
of the wrecks and the more recent boats are probably in better
condition.
In any case the crew would not go to sea if they thought they were not
seaworthy.
What happens when the navy shows up is they sabotage the boats so that
they will not be towed back to Indonesia.

So towing them back is only an option if they do not sabotage the boat
or it can be repaired.
The best solution is to impose say 20 year penalties on the crew and
make it well known in Indonesia.
That will stop it in its tracks.

If it keeps up at its present rate they will run out of suitable boats
or the charge to take them will get so high because of the cost of
the boats that they will change to coastal freighters and put
hundreds, perhaps a thousand or two on board.

Picking them up from a sabotaged boat and taking them back to
Indonesia probably won't work as Indonesia will refuse them.
The only real solution is to return them to their country of origin.

The best solution is to imprison the crew for twenty years.
According to everyone here the crew are risking the passengers and
their own lives, so they should get similar penalties to terrorists ?
hmmmm ?

The *Child Abuser john howard*

was told publicly and in no uncertain terms by Australia's most eminent body of psychiatrists

NOT

to continue to detain children under the circumstances in which he was

BECAUSE

it would result in serious mental illness for some.

And so it became for more than 1 CHILD.

We have had an eminent retired Federal Court Judges testify to this fact in this place, so I assure you, the only relevance to madness is your self delusion that people don't know the truth of this.

..

During her victory speech *Maxine McKew* mentioned the words of 1 of her constituents, which went something like this:

"OOOOO! isn't he the one that locks up children?"

..

Let the child abuser scream DEFAMATION if he has the stomach,
but as we ALL know, child abusers are cowards,
so I doubt we'll he much about it.

The only thought I have is "If we tried sending or towing boats back and I was a refugee with a wife and children and only death or slow starvation of my family was the alternative........what would I DO?

The opportunity might not be there but could a refugee become a terrorist? A family that takes enormous risks could be forced to take on the world. Do "we decide who comes to our country" and are we ready to fight to the death again after 65 years?

Probably the most dishonest part about this post as with many others is the self righteousness of those who have allowed themselves into being deceived that the 'left' are more compassionate than others. If it were nearly the case they would not be so callous in killing the unborn and would not have to protest violently every time they don't get their own way.

Well, no comment re Fluff or Noodle I see *Runner*

Thereafter, your comments are nonsense. The last time I heard of death and destruction re: the abortion issue was when a fruitcake so called catholic bombed a medical facility.

Now, has God/Jesus/ or the not so virgin Mary actually told you that abortion is a Sin?

Or do you just "believe" coz his popiness says so?
Or some other reason perhaps?

So, if you accept it is a matter of personal belief, then surely you accept that you like the rest of us are but mortal, imperfect and capable of error?

If you accept that, then why is that you seem to be uncapable of accepting that you may be wrong on the issue of abortion, instead of making these grandiose pronouncements as if you are the Avatar of God?

And that of course is the problem with fanatics like you.

If you were to say, I believe aborting chemically into a bucket or sucking it up the medivac is a sin under all circumstances because yada yada .. then perhaps I could take you more seriously.

I think you have become a pillar of salt, dry and barren of new information, fixated and obsessive and a bit of fluff or noodle stim would re-enliven areas of the brain long unused, and engender the flow of thoughts and feelings long forgotten, and perhaps in conjunction with a wider reading base, "new" ideas and realisations.