Shadow Minister, numbers don't lie but they are not the only facts.

During September 2001, Australia implemented the Pacific Solution, setting up a processing centre on Nauru. It did not stop the boats. What did was that the Australian Navy turned them back to Indonesia. During the preceding three months prior to the implementation of the Pacific Solution 13 boats arrived in Australia. During the following three months after the Pacific Solution 14 boats attempted to reach Australia from Indonesia however John Howard, the Prime Minister, instructed the Australian Navy to turn them back. There was no pleasant way to do this. It is still the only 100% proven way to stop boats arriving.

What's missing from your numbers is the role of the AN and the timing.
You infer incorrectly from the data that setting up Nauru was the causative element. When the Pacific solution, including AN turn-backs was lifted, of course the boats reappeared, what did you expect? They'll now keep coming unless either the Navy is used against them again, which is repugnant to most Australians, or something else with a chance of success is tried.

Mr Abbott will not countenance the possibility of success of the Gov't because it does not suit him politically. He veils his policy in a ingenuous deep concern for human rights and safety which he is then willing to ignore by turning them back out to sea in a feat of flabbergasting cognitive dissonance.

If, SM, you want to continue to predict the ultimate failure of the Malaysian solution if it is implemented, do so to your hearts content (as you have predicted the failure of simply setting up on Nauru again). Howewer, please acknowledge that it was only the Australian Navy that that stopped the boats in the past, and that the 80% you refer to is actually the majority that is against repeating this disgusting chapter in Australian history. It must also be acknowledged this probably resulted in deaths at sea just as the open door policy we have due to Mr Abbott's intransigence did last week off Java.

SM,

We now eagerly await your usual party policy mantra.

How can facts get in the way of your "truth."

Re Iran refusing their citizens reentry, why not just put them on a
plane with a ticket to Tehran and if they are refused entry they can
just sit in the arrival hall for the rest of their life instead of
sitting on Christmas Island for the rest of their life.

PS

SM, why would the mere announcement of a possible Malaysian solution be expected to do anything other than increase boat numbers while the door is still ajar? Are the numbers somehow supposed to support your assertion that the solution will fail?

Please explain this and also whether you share Mr Abbott's cognitive dissonance. Please plainly state whether or not the Navy should turn back boats, so we can judge whether you are in or out of the "80%".

Lexi,

The facts are the figures I have published. You have yet to publish any facts at all, only opinion from refugee advocates.

The facts as recorded are that boat arrivals without the pacific solution are nearly 100 times that of those with the pacific solution. No one here has denied it. All I hear is feeble attempts to try and find other reasons for the numbers.

No one has yet even offered any plausible alternative reasons for the figures I have quoted.

Luciferase,

History lesson:

When the Malaysian solution was announced, as well as that all new boat arrivals would be included in the 800, the numbers dropped from about 500p.m. to about 250p.m. Even with the threat of Malaysia, the 800 quota (for 4 years) would still be filled in about 3 months.

And Finally: Who can put their hands on their heart and say that Malaysia is more humane than Nauru?

SM says "All I hear is feeble attempts to try and find other reasons for the numbers"!!

What, like the feeble attempts of boats trying to breach a blockade by the Australian Navy?

This is like a children's pantomime where the kids scream out to help the good guy (SM) work out where on the stage bad guy is coming from. SM just keeps looking the other way and won't hear anything.

What he should be comparing the Malaysian solution with is the alternative of TURNING BACK THE BOATS (go ahead, say it SM, that's what you mean by the "Pacific Solution"), not where the processing happens. Instead of turning boats back out to sea, people will be transferred to Malaysia and give up their place at the front of the resettlement line to five times more people waiting at the back.

I'll certainly put my hand on my heart and say the Malaysian solution is immensely more humane than turning boats back out to sea, raising our intake of regugees while deterring boats from breaching our boarders and risking human safety. SM seems sure the Malaysians are tripping over themselves to seal the deal so lets give it a go while keeping a good eye on how things go over there.

It is better than the open door policy Mr Abbott leaves us by his intransigent opportunism. If in power, he will reintroduce processing on Nauru and the AN blockade. The world has changed since 2001 and Australia must lift its game in the face of a larger humanitarian crisis, just as the rest of the world has done. I assert that majority of Australians understand this and do not support turning back boats as an option.