Shadow Minister:

Playing the blame game is not very constructive and you surprise me that you continue to persist in blaming the government when the Liberal Coalition did no better at solving the problem during their time in office. As I stated to you earlier - the knockback from Norway, in July 2003, marked the start of a long, slow retreat by the Howard government as everyone left on Manus and Nauru Islands were gradually brought here. Some rotted on the islands for more than five years, some went mad waiting; but in the end, the largest single group of people fed through the Pacific solution ended up where they were always heading: Australia. I find it amazing that despite all these known facts and despite the sad unwinding of the Pacific solution you continue to support "the Howard government's policy of
processing asylum seekers..." while blaming the Labor government for their policies. To me that's not logical

cont'd ...

Shadow Minister:

Seeing as you're rather fond of statistics, kindly take the time to read the following website:

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/sp/boatarrivals.htm#_Toc233686295

It's given by the Parliamentary Library in Canberra. The statistics with the granting of Temporary Protection Visas are especially interesting as well as the global context in general. An interesting read.

Lexi,

In spite of your rhetoric, the link to the statistics on boat arrivals are the same as I published, which show that the arrivals in Howard's era ramped up to about 5000 p.a. until the pacific solution was applied, then fell rapidly to a tiny fraction. When Rudd dismantled the pacific solution, the boat arrivals rapidly ramped up to previous levels.

Irrespective of the approvals of TPVs or Nauru, they provided a level of uncertainty for asylum seekers that had the desired effect.

We now have the case of "refugees" on getting their permanent residence jetting back to the countries from which they fled "in fear of their lives" to visit their families. Considering that these individuals have taken places from those in real need, I think that this is disgusting.

Lexi,
Even though I have little time for the 'illegal entrants' they do not deserve to die. Whether you like it or not, the previous government reduced the boat arrivals to 3 per year. Now in just 3 years over 200 boats have arrived and at least 200 persons have died.

This is a direct result of the present government enticing these stupid and deceitful people to make the voyage.

Face facts Lexi, the boats stopped coming untill the promise of permanent residence was restored, with all that entitles them to.

Do not give the 'illegals' what they seek and they will stop coming and the people smugglers will go out of business.

This government created the current situation and now must wear the blame. Read the article below.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_the_media_is_bound_by_blood_to_gillard/

Shadow Minister:

I get what you think, and of course you're entitled to think whatever you like. However, as the site that I quoted earlier clearly demonstrated, "Boat arrival numbers in Australia have fluctuated significally over the last 30 years in response to global events. Government responses over the years have included measures aimed at ensuring that those arriving by boat are genuine refugees, policies aimed at protecting our borders, including through co-operation with neighbouring countries and policies aimed at deterring unauthorised boat arrivals." While I don't doubt your "disgust" (this is an
emotive issue for many people), as the site tells us, "the
debate in both public and political arenas is likely to continue as governments seek to address the issues." Have a Merry Christmas and
perhaps the New Year will be a better one for us all. We can live and hope. Take care.

There were hundreds refugee deaths at sea in the *Howard era*. But shadow minister doesn't give 2 hoots about that, as it doesn't serve *his* politics. He's quite happy though to point out current refugee deaths, because it DOES serve his politics.

Shadow minister is using the deaths of human beings for what he thinks is a political point scoring gain. It says everything about the type of person he is.