I said you employ half-truth.

Your statement read, apparently unintended by you, that the PM lied about the status of Nauru at that time. The date of link shows that not to be correct. If you meant that the PM clutched to Nauru's UN position as an excuse at the time, I agree, but she also maintained simply shifting processing to Nauru won't work in any case. She has been inconsistent in the way she applied the UNHCR criterion to Nauru then, but not Malaysia now.

Perhaps I should focus on "Labor's policy is that if it cannot have exactly what it wants, it will do nothing and let people die."

Clearly, Labor desperately wants to do something, something that actually works. Shifting the point of processing alone, at the coalition's insistence, will do nothing to solve the problem except, of course, give the opposition the political sway it is only concerned about.

"As for Nauru not working, how can you explain the dramatic increase in boat arrivals when Nauru was closed?"

Sorry SM, been there done that with you ad nauseum, as have others.
It's to do with the Australian Navy. Go back and read, read, read about it.

"I also think that the vast majority of Australians believe that the Pacific solution worked."

Change that to "everyone" agrees that it worked, including me, and it worked because the actions of the Australian Navy made it work. That it worked is not the only criterion for reimplementing it. The problem is, it is wrong to turn unsafe boat-loads of people back out to sea by force. Australia is a better nation than that now and there is a more humane path Labor wants to take us down. Let them take us there.

Of course, I expect you to trot out your hand-wringing, Cassandra, Chicken Little tripe in response, o concerned are you for the welfare of asylum-seekers (that you would turn back their unsafe boats towards danger).

You, and others here, have given the "decriminalizing" discussion short shrift or derision, so we are still left with two solutions. The coalition wants parliament dissolved over which solution to take, using the issue as a stalking-horse to try to regain government, as everyone well knows. It's the last shot in its locker.

As increasingly stinking and putrid as this strategy becomes with the growing number of tragic events at sea, the Coalition under Mr Abbott clings to it for dear life. Australia deserves better and Mr Abbott needs to be replaced by someone who will allow it.

Dear Shadow Minister,

I will again repeat the statistics for you so you do get
it right.

"Between 2001 and 2008, 1637 people were detained on Nauru and
Manu Island. Of those - 1153 (i.e.70%) were resettled in Australia or other countries. Of this group,
705 (i.e. 61%) were ultimately
resettled in Australia with the remaining 448 re-settled in third
countries."

I will again stress that the deterrent value of such an exercise
as Graham Richardson suggests, is far from clear Sir.

We well may ask the question, "Has the language of security
and threat poisoned policy so much that, as far as some Australians
are concerned - there really is no asylum in this country?"

Belly, this is it !
If she cannot get her legislation passed she MUST go to the GG !
No ifs, no buts !
or resign.

LF,

English not your strong suite? Maths neither, I see. I asked for you to account for why the boat arrivals surged when Nauru was closed. As no boats had been turned around for 5 years, this cannot be a valid reason. Using the boats being turned around is a flimsy excuse for why the boats stopped under the pacific solution, but is not at all valid for the sudden increase.

I see Labor is suddenly interested in "talks" on a "compromise" with the coalition, but are not offering any change to their position. I guess that they will compromise their principles with the greens and independents, but not budge an inch for the coalition.

If you are actually interested in the correspondence:

http://images.smh.com.au/file/2011/12/20/2849933/Corro.pdf?rand=1324338106916

Usual tripe about the devastating effect of the prospect Nauru processing (or Christmas Island, for that matter) on the asylum-seeker psyche. Just drop it SM, your on your own. Terra-firma under Australian immigration control is enough incentive for any prospective boat-person.

How about this compromise, SM, the Australian Navy meets the boats to ensure passengers are safely transferred to Christmas Island or Nauru. Upon recovery from their journey, they be transferred to Malaysia for processing and five times their number of successfully processed refugees be brought back to be resettled in Australia.

That way, you get your Australian Navy and Nauru back into action, just like it was in the good old days.

The PM's letter reads more to me like a plea for humanity.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments about my maths and english.