Scribbler,

"If, under a properly structured integration program whereby they integrate as they 'give', in terms of labour or skills, then they are better placed once 'processed and approved' to move into society.

"under my proposal this problem is eliminated."

Really, your magic wand will make up for a lack of English, Lack of a decade of schooling, etc. It isn't working for 13 000 immigrants a year, only the purest naive optimism would think it would work for 100 000 a year.

What single line solution have you got for world peace or poverty?

@Scribbler,

<< C’mon SPQR, it is human nature to use whatever is to hand to get a leg up>>

Absolutely. Except, that we have been ear bashed for decades now about the importance of merit based selection.
Yet just when we come to enshrine it, the very same persons who sold us on it seemed to have changed tact.

If a CEO announces s/he is holding places “refugees” --it’s all halal.
But if the same CEO was to reserve places for non-refugees …well, you can image the raucous outcry that would result
( the refugee lawyers would have govt funded work for a decade!).

<< it seems they are following edicts imposed by a system that clearly does not work.>>

Maybe not to a great extent on the work front. But you need to remember that for someone arriving from a little village in southern Asia our welfare alone would be a windfall. You will see a much greater uptake on the education and housing fronts.

<<And if my proposal is so lacking in intellect, then by all means propose a solution yourself. I would be glad to read it, digest all its implications and debate its merits.>>

The Refugee Convention was never intended as an avenue for countries to further their skilled migrant programs.
And to attempt to use it as such amounts to a trashing of the principles of the convention.

Further, I would caution that we need to tread wearily around siphoning off skilled personnel from the non-developed world -- under any pretext.
I suspect –and there are already some noises to this effect -- that it is up there with stripping them of their mineral wealth.
And is likely to be cited at some future time (by some future Poirot—or, maybe even our present one) as yet another form of exploitation and evidence of our carpet bagging tendencies

SPQR,
<< The Refugee Convention was never intended as an avenue for countries to further their skilled migrant programs.
And to attempt to use it as such amounts to a trashing of the principles of the convention. >>

While I can see how the idea could be construed as such, that is not my intention and I agree wholeheartedly that any use of labour or skills by incoming refugees as part of an integration program would have to be dealt with carefully. On the other hand, incarcerating them is not the answer either. I know, if I were seeking asylum, which option I’d prefer.

<< Further, I would caution that we need to tread wearily around siphoning off skilled personnel from the non-developed world -- under any pretext. >>

Again, agree. But I would argue against the concept of ‘siphoning off’, by which I interpret you to mean that I am suggesting we be ‘selective’ in whom we allow in and whom we don’t. Again, not my intention. It would have to work either on a first in/first served basis or as dictated by need, and dependant on which humanitarian crisis is foremost at the time. At all times, we ‘get what we are given’.

Thanks for giving me something to think about here. I am not saying my idea is the only or even the best solution – perhaps it is not even a good one. But ANYTHING is better than what we are bickering over now.

Scribbler
I know of one country where allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees in didn’t work.
Palestine. The Arabs and Jews have been fighting a bloody territorial dogfight ever since,
Which could eventually plunge the world into World War three

Cherful,

Good try, but really? Shame on you! Not the same thing at all ... and you know it. ;)

Scribbler,,

Skilled migrants are not treated particularly well. Those on a 457 visa pay tax, but get no medicare, no access to free housing, and have to pay about $8000 p.a. to send a child to a public school.

I had a sparky working for me who had to return to South Africa because he could not get permanent residence because one of his children was mildly autistic. The child born here was not considered Australian.