Hasbeen, without having details thought through thoroughly I'd do it a bit differently but with I suspect the same goals.

I suspect in practical terms we'd need to give some kind of support for a period, that should be contingent on all family mambers taking part in study while they are not working and with some proviso's to ensure that does not become a rort.

I was thinking some more about this earlier. Maybe a bit like a neighbours house burning down.

If at all possible I'd offer them somewhere to stay till they get things sorted out, I'd try and help them get sorted with clothes and other necessities to get going again. I would not feel obliged to let them move into my home permanently. After they'd had a little time to get over the trauma I'd expect them to pull their weight around the home. If I caught they stealing stuff in my place then they would be out regardless of how difficult that was for them. If they insisted on continuing to smoke in bed then they'd also be out quickly regardless of how culturally important that was to them.

R0bert

Gillard Government has been informed by the same legal people as advised Howard/will advise Abbott.
Belly,
probably so but because Howard was way smarter than his two successors he obviously didn't take too much notice of those advisors hence the better outcome under his leadership.

Yuyutsu,

There is no more frontier or "boundless plains" that are worth having. Most of Australia is desert, about as hospitable to settlement as the Sahara. Only about 6% of Australia is arable. Unlike Europe or North America, soils have not been renewed by glaciation or mountain building, with the exception of a few areas over old volcanic hotspots. See

http://www.australianpoet.com/boundless.html

Back in 1994, before all the concern about Peak Oil, climate change, etc., the Australian Academy of Sciences suggested 23 million as a safe upper limit for Australia's population given the resource situation.

Australia's primary obligation is to its own citizens, just like Israel's.

I fully agree, Divergence, that Australia's primary obligation is to its own citizens.

What I find an untoward anomaly, is that [non-citizen] humans are treated worse than [non-citizen] animals.

Usually, unless it creates a specific problem for us (such as rats passing germs), we don't mind allowing wild animals to enjoy our scraps, be it scraps of food or scraps of land, so why not treat those humans like we treat animals? Why not allow them the same status?

Since you mentioned Israel, the Israelis are known for their success in cultivating arid soil (and marshes) and making the desert bloom. If people like this somehow make it, if their boats do not sink and they survive the outback conditions in areas that we don't use anyway and which you just described as "not worth having", then why should you mind?

Yuyutsu, I'd not like to be a resident (or traveller) in a remote area and have a bunch of dispossessed people living rough in the bush nearby when it came to the point that they realised that I had some essentials that they didn't.

I don't quite know how you'd keep them out of the cities and town under that approach either. Once they've gotten someone's vehicle and some money what stops them from driving into the cities or towns?

R0bert

There appears to be a couple of guvment programs being rolled out currently with new arrivals in mind.

One is that they are being steered away from *AUSTUDY* by not dovetailing the AMEP time table with the TAFES etc, which has caused me some inconvenience I may add.

Instead, they are being herded into *Job Seeker* programs like LLNP, which aims to provide the minimums in terms of literacy and numeracy for immediate employment.

So do please some of you fools spare me your idiotic comments about the length of time some of these people are on welfare as the law demands minimum standards for health and safety.

Anyway, currently there is a strong impetus trying to stream these people into OLD AGE CARE.

..

Of course, for my BeLoved, only *AUSTUDY* is good enough, so that she may continue to be paid over the long academic Christ Mass holidays when we are in Indonesia for 5 - 6 weeks.

(That's beautiful isn't it? ;-) )
HaHaHa

As, if you are on *Job Seeker* terms and conditions, you can travel, but not at the Guvna's Pleasure.

..

Having said that, I have met and continue to meet a whole range of new arrivals, and as of yet, I have not met one who isn't busting to get a decent job and get into it. Unfortunately, there are considerable obstacles in their way.

So really, for some of you, grow a brain and look a little deeper.

..

One more thing, to me, whilst it is no longer a situation of "White Australia" it is very much a case of the "Wealthy Australia Immigration Policy." If you have no loot and no education, your prospects of getting in without a sponsor are very slim, except if you are a boat person.

And I would add, in my experiences in Indonesia and Thailand, the most genuine, decent, hard working people are the poor people. Not the parasites who predate upon them so think ye all well what kind of society it is that you think you are creating with your immigration policies.