Come on bloke, how did you get the idea I said Bob Brown would or would not become Prime Mister?, can you truly think I do not understand a senator would have to move to the lower house?
Did you fail to understand? I said he would never influence a government, not lead influence.
Or just did you just fabricate that?
Sorry I understand the issue and Brown, he has lost the plot, under his leadership greens have too.
Refugees runner are humans too, you should address the issue not rant on about a different subject.
Greens, watch this space may well not win new seats, only so many refugees from major party's exist.

Diploman
"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"

If only that was the case. I do realise that many of those that seek asylum are poor and want a better life for their families but the reality is that unless they are skilled they will not find it in a western nation. Even for us it is hard to get good work unless you are continually up to date with skills or trades. We just create ethnic enclaves that can continue to cause issues for decades.

The reality is for hunger it is far more viable to send money to the pLaces that need it. You can feed far more on the money we spend to rescue a few boat people. Sri Lanka has received our aid, Sri Lanka is on the road to recovery. Sri Lanka is not our enemy so we should not treat the country as such. The US hates Sri Lanka but they are behind on Chinese relations and still see China as an enemy. We do not. So the friendship Sri Lanka has with China should not colour our views as it does for the bigoted US.

Belly

'Refugees runner are humans too, you should address the issue not rant on about a different subject.'

That is exactly why the Labour party should cease their little political games and stop encouraging people in leaky boats to take a punt. It has already resulted in deaths and will continue to as long as Labour try and suck up to the UN and pretend to the Australian people they are taken a hard line. They should at least have the guts to be honest and stop playing with the lives of these desperate people.

Runner,

Remember that 353 people drowned on the SIEV-X in 2001 and there are a number of unresolved questions about that yet to be answered.

Would you prefer that we go back to the days of using agents to sabotage the boats before they sail and then ignoring distress calls as they sink?

Forcing boats that may not be able to make the return journey to safety back into International waters is not much different from the SIEV-X incident.

On that occassion 65 men, 142 women and 146 children were sacrificed on the altar of politics.

It's time to stop using this matter as a political weapon and find a bi-partisan solution.

rache,
You have been well indoctrinated if you still believe the wild speculation of Marilyn Sheperd and Co, about the Siev X and the theories of agents sabotaging the illegals boats. All wild speculation without any substance what so ever. The people on the Siev X drowned because of their own misadventure. Grossly overloaded, it sailed from Indonesia and sank in the Indonesian rescue zone and was never our responsibility. If you have questions, ask the Indonesians.

My question, from that period, is why any of those rescued by the Tampa were allowed into Australia and why some were not charged with hijacking the Tampa. More recently those on board the Oceanic Viking should not be allowed into Aus and should face hijacking charges.

The present government has encouraged people to try the sea journey which has resulted in about 50 deaths in about 18 months.

Belly,
You and I both know that Abbott, in government, could not turn the boats around any more than Rudd can, even though he said he would before the last election. The only way to stop the illegals from trying the sea journey is by not giving them what they want. i.e. Permanent residence on mainland Aus. As I have said before, it took the previous government about 5 years to discover that

No one seems to think my suggestion of gaoling the crew for 20 years
is a good idea. I haven't seen a better suggestion.

Yesterday there was a program on the BBC called My Country and
that days country was Italy.
The program was about the road south of Naples.
There are thousands of African boat people living in the area
which also has a mafia problem.

If you want to see the effect of uncontrolled boat people arrivals
go to bbcworld.com and watch it.
What a mess !
As one Nigerian put it, the third world has moved to the first world.