Consequently, as the working poor of this country are not well supported to the extent that they cannot even afford to pay the parasitic dentists to fix their teeth, not to mention homelessness and all of the rest of what can be argued to constitute "entrenched disadvantage," I am opposed to further immigration, for now, with very few exceptions, except perhaps legitimate asylum seekers, but even then, as opposed to peeing on the convention and bringing Australia into international disrepute, I would prefer that we as a state withdraw.

Finally, for *Belly,* in my mind there is no justification for abusing children on any grounds, even if it is a matter of border security.

In that regard the medical facts speak for themselves, and I would object to the same if it were your children or those of anyone else for that matter.

Legally speaking, I do not believe this to be a matter of defamation as the red and the blue politicians of Australia as a whole bring themselves into disrepute by their own actions.

As for those who seek to not have this matter given appropriate public airing, in my mind they are little better than those who cover up for pedophilia.

..

Oh, one more thing, my personal recommendation to guvment is that they need to upgrade, tailor and revise an assessable program of orientation prior to letting asylum seekers loose into the community, as if the TAFE system program is anything to go by, and compared to that which I received in Japan, their current efforts are wholly inadequate.

Just watched Bob Brown on Q&A.

I agree with him about 98%, the main difference of opinion being about asylum seekers.

But there was nothing on a sustainable society or continuous growth. Damn disappointing. HUGE omissions, Mr Jones!

(Yeah I know; I shoulda had a question prepared to present to the man. Shame on me for not doing so!)

Trouble is, the Greens are just not doing what Bob espouses! Or I should say; they are doing about 10% of it at best! Or so it seems. Or is it the media that gives this impression?

Ludwig,
"Trouble is, the Greens are just not doing what Bob espouses! Or I should say; they are doing about 10% of it at best! Or so it seems. Or is it the media that gives this impression?"

Unfortunately, the mainstream media paints a false picture of the Greens. They either totally fail to report, misreport or distort the truth for their own, or should I say for those they represent, political agenda.
I think The Labor government is suffering from very much the same problem. Let me say I am no a friend of Labor and much of their woes are of their own doing, but having said that, the likes of the Murdick and other sections of the right wing media have been running a 'get Labor' campaign for some time now and its working.

<< Unfortunately, the mainstream media paints a false picture of the Greens >>

Sure they do Paul. Bob was absolutely scathing of the Murdoch press last night.

But as with Labor, that is certainly not the whole story.

The thing I like about the Greens is we are very strong on policy and policy development. I'm not saying I agree 100% with all our policies. We have a 'all members being involved' process when it comes to policy development, which is a very democratic process. I can not say the same for the Liberal or Labor parties. In fact, particularly the Liberals, seem to be very thin on policy, basically its "all will be revealed before the next election stuff." Where do they stand on industrial relations, taxation etc. Labor seem to announce policy on the run, what will Julia announce next week.
The media focus on the politics of the 'personality' and not on the substance of policy. The carbon tax is a good example, its controversial, and the media have not been backward in making it so, its political, Abbott has seen to that, but at the end of the day its not that big a deal as some would have it. I support a carbon tax but if Gillard was to announce no carbon tax today, it would not be the end of the world for me, life goes on. Who ever anyone commits their vote to, should do it based on that person or parties policy not on personalities as defined by the media etc.

Paul,

"The thing I like about the Greens is we are very strong on policy and policy development."

Part of developing policy is doing the costing and producing a balanced budget. For all the criticism of Labor/liberal, the greens have never bothered. Their "policies" are a collection of uncosted wish lists, from every interest group.