So the polls show a Labor victory but a gain for rabbott, on that subject.
I have to ask, why.
My e mail system is full of raw hatred toward these folk, Rudd and the ALP.
Is this the way Australia thinks?
It very well may be, Rudd after all hardened his rules to do what.
Face the electorate with one less issue or stop the over flow on Christmas Island?

Dear Belly,
Two wrongs can never make a right no matter how you add it up. When you grasp this concept all your confusion will evaporate as a fog covers your thinking.

I liked Koshie's joke of the day yesterday.
A woman went for a job in a lemon orchard. The boss asked her if she had experience picking lemons. She replied, "Well, I have married three of them and I also voted for Kevin Rudd."

Dear Belly,

I think the PM is doing all he can.
They've currently suspended the processing
of applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan -
in order to assess the situation. I was fairly
sympathetic to the cause of boat people - however
I have to admit I'm starting to re-think the issue.
I heard about this one guy (Tamil from Sri Lanka)
who was protesting, along with many others, on
Christmas Island that they've been kept waiting
for 3 months (my parents who came as WWII Refugees -
were kept waiting for years - in Germany). Anyway,
this guy's complaint was that there weren't enough
TVs and Internet access in the camp. Crickey - hey!

Makes you think? He admitted that the food was great,
medical facilities excellent, staff were very sympathetic,
et cetera - just more TV and Internet!

Foxy, I'm glad that you see how these 'boat people' really think.

They want to be given much more than our aging citizens who worked all their life here and got bugger-all. Or our war vets who are preferred to stay out of the way.

If only everyone else would wise up.

It can't continue, it has to stop.
If it is not stopped, will it still be a problem in 20years time ?

More population means more infrastructure needed.
We are just entering a no growth era.
Infrastructure expansion can only occur in a time of growth.
Otherwise the average standard of living has to fall.
Less cake all round !

Simple isn't it ?
Longer waiting times at hospitals.
Government debt that cannot be repaid.
Your children in larger classes. Higher public transport fares.
More crowded buses and trains. Lower food standards.
Two bedroom houses, intermittent electricity supply, severe water shortages.
Etc etc etc, that is what happens when you expand the population in
a static or contracting economy.

Yes, it's all the fault of a few thousand boat people! Nothing at all to do with the hundreds of thousands of "skilled" and "business" immigrants who've been arriving annually for years under both Liberal and Labor governments, nor anything to do with the tens of thousands of visa overstayers.

All of Australia's population problems are caused by a few thousand boat people! And, as Foxy says, they're not grateful enough!

Turn them back, sink their boats, kill them all! That'll fix everything.

A local couple brought their eldest son Richard along to our community bar-B-Q last weekend. He's a young army officer, just promoted to captain, on his return from Afghanistan, where he was training their army.

Their youngest son also a pongo, is to be posted over there in a couple of months. The mother wanted to know why we keep sending our young men over there to defend the place, & allow them to claim to be refugees here.

I think she is finding it very hard, having her sons in harms way, when she can see no worthwhile reason for it.

With his recent experience, we asked Richard what he thought.

He said he had been surprised by the number of army recruits & others, who wanted to know if it was true that they would get a house, furniture, a car, & lots of money, if they came to Oz. It sounded to them to be much easier than working for these things for them selves.

Quite a few of them wanted to know how to go about it.

He reckoned we got the very worst of them coming here by boat. They are offering good money, training, & conditions for them to join their own army, or police force, to help build a decent country for themselves, right there at home. Those who would rather run away were of no use to Afghanistan, & even less use to Oz.

As he put it, if they didn't have the guts to help build the country of their birth, we would be bl00dy fools to expect them to do anything to help build, or defend a country that was silly enough to take them in.

I do find it hard to disagree with his logic.

Dear CJ,

Nobody is suggesting killing anyone.
And as for being "grateful enough,"
yes, they certainly should be. They are
being provided with food, clothing, shelter,
medical expertise et cetera - and they don't
have to work a two year contract - to pay
the Government back as WWII Refugees had to.
Being grateful is the least that they should be!

CJ is acting like a drama queen. He is unable to provide a argument and so resorts to ridiculous comments and name calling.

Well maybe it is my fault.
I started a thread knowing I was to be away.
I had no chance to develop my views.
It may be too late, my views are still changing, Australia's views are.
Call me BIGOT I may well be one.
But do not think I am.
I believe, gee do not most of us?
We are concerned about the religion of some who arrive uninvited.
No not the belief, the seeming instistance on developing a culture within our culture that is more interested in changing our culture.
I remain concerned at just how much rubbish, trash, hatred, is arriving in my in box from undeniably good people, Christians, who can not see the faces of the wonderful children in those boats.
Who want to claim it as an invasion, it is not.
Mixed up, even for me here in print, is a concern for humanity and some in our country even from past migrations, isolating humans based on creed.
We know surely all of us, some come because they fear their fate, some come like they did to America, to get a chance.
Rudd has reacted, he has dropped my partys policys ,because of voters concerns.
On some basic human rights the union movement could not bend him.
But voters opinions did.
And in truth I am unsure if he did wrong, CJM and others this issue is not clear cut, if we think about it less concern is shown for a great deal more who come by plane.

I can recall the cooks got a mention about the food and the billiard cues were broken. My inside source says the cues were broken because of rage. I can recall too, that these men have escaped from anything but the truth. Habib at one time being asked by the girl reporter if he was tortured said "Yes" and went on to describe it in detail. When asked if members of the Federal Police were present, again said "Yes" and so the comfortable people in Australia were shocked to know that and responded they way that Habib intended. But, I served two terms in a radical Islamic country in 73-74 and I came away with the distinct impression that a straight answer to straight questions seems terribly difficult, and the notion of helping someone else likewise.

But there is another dimension to the issue. It is that the terrorists cut the throat of the innocents, believing that they will dwell in Paradise for having done so.We are a compassionate nation so bring families with children out of Christmas Island and send the others back to change their situation, in cuffs if necessary. Running away says a great deal about them. If by doing so, do they "add to the cultural diversity of our Nation"?