Sadly Belly as Tony Abbot did actually conspire with one of the independents to let the refugees in, as an attempt to bribe him into changing sides- I fear that many senior members in both houses need to be booted out (preferably without a pension) and replaced with people who take the people's will on this issue seriously- as opposed to a point-scoring exercise they have no intention of doing properly.
Abbot merely postures on it but is happy to secretly sink it, and Gillard introduced an extremely expensive alternative to take even MORE arrivals in- these ones merely satisfying Malaysia's migration standards. I hope she at least remembered to cancel the entire deal where we would have been landed with the few thousand intake Malaysia was going to send to us.

I think as Mise said, a referendum on the issue WOULD be interesting (and would at last put this issue to bed and allow the government to focus on other issues).

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This link, to this days Australian, and a Paul Kelly editorial about that court ruling is a challenge.
It is no easy read for any side.
But it, better than any comment I have seen tells it like it truly is.
I recommend it, to every one, but only if you intend to take the whole story on board.
This is the once persona of this paper.
For what ever reason, it is a return to honest comment, I have fears it will not continue.
Let us remember, Abbott's need to use issues such as this as a stick to flog his opponents is a sad reflection on him.

@ Poirot,

<< Perhaps instead we should invest in really big roll of refugee-proof cling-wrap and hermetically seal ourselves away....that idea has about as much merit as anything you've suggested.>>

Nah! too expensive –here’s a better solution.
How about we buy a bonsai plant for each refugee advocate.

Everyday they could water their plant , talk to their plant, snip a little here and there and sublimate away all their sappy sentiments .

Thereafter, they would have no time to coach illegal’s on how to beat the system. And no time to provide poor-fellow-refugee sound bites for the ABC & SBS to hype.

And as a added bonus, we’d probably get a whole heap of carbon credits on account of all the new trees.

Julia Gillard would best be renamed "Madame Clap", since she is like a dose of syphilis. It's the last thing you want; once you've got it, you can't get rid of it; it can't be cured no matter how much medicine you take; it will eventually drive you insane, and you'll die a slow, painful, and disgusting death. This is the fate that is now overtaking Australia.

Don't forget, Julia is an immigrant herself.
Notice the number of vocal Lefties and "Respectable" conservatives with foreign accents who are all for flooding the country with every stray third world moppet they can scoop up?
I'm in the construction business,the main gripe you hear bout the useless, corrupt unions is "They're all Pommies".
Every time I hear Doug Cameron or Matthias Corman start to rev up the old Universalist pipe organ I want to retch, our biggest immigration problem seems to be immigrants from Europe and the UK who end up in public office.
Send 'em back where they came from!

> Notice the number of vocal Lefties and "Respectable" conservatives with foreign accents who are all for flooding the country with every stray third world moppet they can scoop up? ... Send 'em back where they came from!

The latest being Ban Ki-Moon, who encourages us to be "world leaders" in humanitarianism towards illegal immigrants. Oh, the patronizing stench of it, which Gillard and most other Ozzies will lap up as they "proudly" puff out their porn-inspired clean-shaven chests. Just for a change, let's be world laggards and do as you suggest - send the b...s back where they came from.

> our biggest immigration problem seems to be immigrants from Europe and the UK who end up in public office.

I'll go you one better. From http:52midnight.com/files/a-Foreign_ownership_in_Australia.html:

"On 1st December 1997, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced to the Canberra Press Club that Australia too was to be globalized, ... 'Let me put this clearly; globalization is an irreversable trend. It is happening. And it is good for all Australians, the region, and the world ... Whether people fear globalization or not, they cannot escape it.'"

OK, the world's now had a decade of corporate globalization, and it's proved an absolute disaster for all except the TNCs, international financiers and other criminals, and every bank that's "too big to fail", all of whom are now immensely wealthier. I'd say it's time to declare it a failed experiment, close the gates, and try a decade of protectionism and doing things our way. Couldn't possibly be any worse.

And bring back the pillory and the lash for all poiticians who lie or deceive the parliament.