PaulL

Juliar would like us to believe that she has a silver bullet for this problem, however, given that she is not going to build any detention facilities in Malaysia, and that the options for the refugees are either the appalling detention camps there or being released amongst the population there where they don't have the right to work or any aid, the implementation of this agreement is going to be politically very tough, given that the greens have announced their intention to challenge this in the courts.

As I mentioned before, With the Oceanic Viking, the asylum seekers simply refused to disembark, and Australia had to accept them.

If this is not implemented very carefully, it has all the hallmarks of another Labor stuff up.

Right as I post Tony Abbott is talking, it is question time in Parliament.
I still very firmly think Gillard can not win an election.
That her supporters such as Simon Crean betray my party.
But I soften my stance on the Malaysian solution.
See I had help,the faces of Christopher Pyne, The deputy leader Bishop, SMIRKING like unruly children.
Abbott's bluster, Cooks intransigence while having nearly the same policy's .
I am reminded of this, Tony Abbott is propping up my dysfunctional party.
It seems evident this proposal is at least going to work,and that yes we take more but we pick them.
In any debate we will never get every thing we want.
I now back the government plan as better than any it has had so far, and remembering ANYTHING is better than an Abbott led government.
I can not however stop hoping Gillard/Crean and about 4 more consider a future in anything out side politics.

Posted by Belly, Tuesday, 10 May 2011 3:16:36 PM

" ... But I soften my stance on the Malaysian solution. ... "

I actually share *Belly's* above sentiment on this one, though that is not to say that I do not have immediate concerns visa vi Human Rights issues, however.

..

I do not how it is that we expect all members of both houses to make valid comment on issues if they are not all equally informed.

I just can't believe Australia wastes so much time debating what is a trivial amount of people - 5000 people/year...

I mean really, this is nothing compared to the millions of refugees fleeing atrocious conditions around the globe..

And further, we seem somewhat surprised that some refugees try to get here by boat... Hello!! We live on an island... Last time I checked, I couldn't walk a water.. Unless other's out there are suggesting something different I think we need to grow up as a country and get over this issue.

Other western nations have land borders and have much larger volumes of illegal immigrants fleeing into their countries..

The issue should no longer be politicised, we should follow suit and do what every other humane modern country does to process their refugees:

- end mandatory detention
- perform initial health and security checks
- then allow these people to work and contribute to the community whilst their applications are processed

We should at least give them a chance at a new life and a chance to contribute to our society..

As our a society we're in desperate need of a slap across the face to wake up from this bad dream..

I've written a bit more about this in two articles on my interactive website - Progressive Talks: http://www.progressivetalks.com

- http://progressivetalks.com/social/item/1586-asylum-seekers.html
- http://progressivetalks.com/social/item/1610-detention-centres-unnecessary.html

ProgressiveTalks,

You're entirely missing the point. The stats for the arrival of people by boat are
2008 161
2009 2849
2010 6879

As you have pointed out for us, there are millions of refugees fleeing war, famine, drought persecution etc across the world. Our current intake for refugees is now set at 13500 per year. As we can see from the above figures, in the very near future it is likely that there will be more people arriving by boat than there are places for them on the program. This is very bad news for refugees in foreign countries who are already assessed and have been waiting in camps for their opportunity. The problem for them is that refugees who show up by boat have a 90% chance of having their applications approved, whilst those in camps have well under 10%.This obviously has the perverse effect of encouraging people to get on a boat and try and sneak into Australia.

You also ignore the fact that more than 30 people died trying to illegally enter this country by boat last year. Boarding rickety fishing boats in order to sneak into australia is not something we should be encouraging.

The reason the numbers of boat arrivals have increased exponentially in the last few years is because the existing system rewards those who come by boat. If 90% of the people who arrive by boat are eventually allowed to stay, many more people will take the chance, pay the money and risk their lives. Processing those who arrive here illegally in Malaysia and placing them at the back of the queue is a good start.

I’m not against raising the number of asylum seekers we take in, although I don’t support allowing such arrivals to access the dole etc. The fact is that we have a right to decide who we allow to come to this country, And we have an obligation, in a limited intake program, to ensure that the places go to the most deserving, not the wealthiest, most daring or closest to hand.

No one seems to take account of the water problem.
We should be planning for drought times not flood times.
After all, the flood is no good if you don't survive the drought.
There is a world wide food shortage coming over the horizon.
We had better get our act together before the starving millions start moving.
Already diesel shortages are affecting food production in Pakistan.