Belly,
One thing facing the truth may do is make the present government shoulder their responsibilities. They are to blame for this and it is up to them to fix it.

If they think the Malaysian scheme will stop the boats coming, then they have to convince their coalition partners (greens and independants) of that and get the legislation passed. Bills on other things have been passed.

The 'do nothing' situation at present is unacceptable.

The previous Nauru scheme is different to the Malaysia scheme in that we ran the detention at Nauru. There is no need for the detainees to end up in Aus, as before, anyway. If the government put tough enough measures in place, it will not take long to stop the boats.

Banjo,

<<If they think the Malaysian scheme will stop the boats coming, then they have to convince their coalition partners (greens and independants)>>

LOL

On evidence to hand it would appear that the Greens are not in slightest bit interested in stopping the boat.

SPQR,
The greens are Labors coalition partners and if they cannot get their support for Malaysia then the government should,if they have any integrity and consience, agree to the oppositions Pacific solution.

It does, after all, have a proven record of working.

Is not the idea to stop the boats from coming and therefore save lives.

I don't particularly care what becomes of a boatload of fit young Afghani men who pay for bus fares and a plane ticket to a stepping stone country then board a leaky boat to enter a sovereign nation illegally. Not to mention ditching their passports and personal identification along the way. Live or die I care for them to the same extent they care for the birthplaces they are leaving because they are financially able to do so. Do your worst Neptune.

When people are drowning they quite willingly pull their saviors under the water to sustain themselves, it’s a human reaction. But the factual reports of the men having the life jackets on the boat that hit the rocks at Xmas Island a few years back turned my stomach. No women or children had life jackets, just the fit young men...our type of people no doubt.

Shadow Minister>> I see this as a Siev X moment for Labor. Just as a boat sinking prompted Howard to stop the boats with the Pacific solution. Perhaps now Labor will be prompted to do the same.<<

PS
SM, for the sake of Jesus and Mohammad will you please stop alluding that there comes a point on any failed policy that Labor will concede they got it wrong! Or that the acolytes here on OLO will see facts as the relevant foundation of their pro Labor arguments. Everyone that I come into contact with who have responsibilities, that is, work to do, bills to pay, families to support or businesses to run are doing it tough and they all blame Labor. They don’t blame the GFC, or the poor European economy, or the basket case U.S economy, they see the policies of these Labor criminals draining the wealth of Australia and murdering any chance of a stable future for our domestic economy. The government has the mining boom and the people have the illegal’s boom. A boom that that keeps the bloodsucker lawyers and social engineers eating at waterfront restaurants while the ever suffering majority eats at the local burger shop.

Otokonoko >>I'm going to say 'no' - we are not responsible, and our government could not have prevented it. Sure, there are undoubtedly measures that could have been taken to stop the flow of boats to Australia, but that would simply relocate the tragedy rather than prevent it.<<

To patch a hole you need lots of stitches and Howards government contributed to those stitches. People do have a responsibility to cover their own behinds. We are not talking about the Jews of Europe bolting from Germany before and during WWII. These people pay for tickets and take their chances…some loose, and more will lose if we do not re patch our hole.

OK Rudd mucked it up,he did.
So SM and a host here want to ignore the rest.
If you imprison Kevin for it! we still need to fix it.
Abbott, and the greens, can over night!
Only LABOR HAS BACKED DOWN! offered Abbott his victory.
Nehru.
He is prepared to kill rather than resolve this issue!
History will be unkind to him.