Neither Canada nor the United States feels it necessary to put undocumented aliens in detention centres, and the US has millions.
david f,
I & many I know do not wish Australia to become like Canada & the US. If that's what you aspire to then be my guest & go there. If you're so keen to allow so many into Australia who don't actually subscribe to our way of life & our work ethics then you & your friends take them into your homes.
I was listening to some academic sheila on the radio yesterday who complained bitterly about boat people being detained for so long. Well, if she can convince them not to hide their papers from our immigration authorities then they could be processed a lot quicker. You see, it's literally up to them to shorten their time in detention by being open.
Once they have then reorganised themselves they can then work on getting their home country back on track rather then ruining ours. Not too unfair is it ?

Yes we should "care for our own" and "charity begins at home" and all that.

Perhaps we should set an agreed minimum standard before we spend our hard-earned money on those undeserving others.

How about no overseas assistance until every Aussie owns their own home with 2 cars and a boat (or caravan). Is that unreasonable?

It probably is to some.

The quality of life we enjoy is far above the vast majority of people in the world and is in many ways dependent on their continuing misery.

Supporting the overthrow of their governments, sponsoring continuing oppressive regimes, stripping their countries of their natural resources and rearranging their economies to make them perpetual slaves to provide us with cheap consumer goods is not a happy coincidence for us. It's been a deliberate strategy and eventually somebody will pay.

And Wobbles, all they need do is to control their breeding. Not stop, simp,y control.

You see, it can only be considered irresponsible, to continue popping out kids, knowing full well they stand a fair chance of not making it to adulthood, let alone not being able to provide for them.

So many on this site have grave concerns about population growth, not so much ours, but global.

All we are doing is giving those who can't control their breeding an option.

The fact is John Howard took the big stick approach and it worked. It may not have been liked by the greens, but it worked.

As for the greens, who cares, they live in some fantasy world, so much so, that if one proposed to build the likes of summer set dam today, they would opposse it, due to the endangerment of some frog or the likes.

These people that are arriving uninvited should be stopped.

I still believe the best way to stop them is to remove whatbthey come here for.

We are being peacefully invaded by god knows who, and they bring with them their beliefs and hates, not, all, but some. One potential terrorist is one too many in my view.

There is a right way to immigrate, and a wrong way.

The bleeding hearts simply have to accept this.

wobbles,

"...stripping their countries of their natural resources..."

I can't help but note the irony of Nauru in relation to your comment above. This island, under the jurisdiction of Australia and others, has been reduced to a pock-marked moonscape due to the exhaustive mining of phosphate. No surprise that it now hires itself out as a venue for Australia's detention centres.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru

Your last paragraph is spot on.

@ Wobbles,

<< Supporting the overthrow of their governments, sponsoring continuing oppressive regimes, stripping their countries of their natural resources and rearranging their economies to make them perpetual slaves to provide us with cheap consumer goods is not a happy coincidence for us. It's been a deliberate strategy and eventually somebody will pay.>.

Couldn't help but notice how similar – parrot like even -- your line is to that of other open border writers on this thread.
Did you by chance all attend the same (the little red writing) school?

@ Poirot,

<<can't help but note the irony of Nauru in relation to your comment above. This island, under the jurisdiction of Australia and others, has been reduced to a pock-marked moonscape due to the exhaustive mining of phosphate>> .

What is even more ironic is the manner in which some are wont to tippytoe around the unpalatable facts that most of the mining was done by the Nauru Phosphate Corporation (a Nauran government-owned company). And much of the resultant revenues went towards The Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust a sovereign wealth fund developed by the government of Nauru.

Dear rehctub,

There is a right way and a wrong way to immigrate. One problem is that it is not possible for everyone to use the right way. They have to have access to an Australian embassy to apply for a visa. That is not an option open to everyone. I agree that there should be a check on uncontrolled population growth. However, funds for planned parenthood and other means to stop that growth are not a high priority in foreign aid.

In your first post you wrote about helping Australians in need.

Unfortunately a lot of what our tax money goes for has nothing to do with that.

A state funeral for Kerry Packer, the pope's visit, the visits of the royal British parasites, the invasion of Iraq, exorbitant pensions and travel allowances for pollies who always voted at their party's call, subsidies for athletic stadiums, the Olympics, the Grand Prix, the Institute of Sport, chaplains in schools, religious schools and loggers to cut down old-growth forests are some of the many things that our taxes have supported. The portion of my taxes that have gone to helping desperate people fleeing from war-torn and oppressive lands seem to me better spent than any of the above items.