This amazes me that Labor on one hand is congratulating itself because 18 so called asylum seeker are going home.
Quote "Mr Bowen says the transfer is a "significant step" that shows the Government's asylum seeker policy is working"

BUT on the same day the Government sends the navy 100's of KM into Indonesian waters to pick up 180 from a boat that was not even sinking and now is bringing them to Australia (it was 45KM of Indonesian land)

Why couldn't Indonesia, which has a bigger Navy than Australia go and get them? (because they do not want them).

Bowen said he did not want to set any precedents with regard to transfers that the smugglers could exploit.
BUT he has again showed the smugglers just call the Australian Taxi service and we will send the Navy right into Indonesian waters to pick you up and bring you to Australia.

Con't Not only did the Government send in a navy vessel but 4 planes as well, there is another million or so dollars down the drain.
The boat was in Indonesian waters WHY were they not just handed back to Indonesia?

As long as you are in denial, you can do almost anything.

The problem is the lost soles who get caught up in all this false hope and spin labor puts out.

It's a real pity our own people don't get treated so well.

Even our diggers had to pay their own way to attend a ceremony in their honor and these were people who fought and lost mates to save this great nation.

God only knows why!

Hi PhillipS,

You might be being a bit unfair characterizing it as a labor problem.

There are some good solid men and women in the labor party. And traditional labor has been a strong supporter of Australian interests.

I see it more as a left wing affliction. Those on left of both major parties see “asylum seekers” as a fashionable cause.
Let’s not forget the liberals Judi Moylan & Petro Georgiou (and the pinup boy of the left, Malcolm Frazer—does he still qualify as a “liberal” ?)
And, I am a little suspicious of the way the libs so readily fell into line with Chris Bowen’s “aspirational” enlargement of our intake to 20,000.

Sometimes the best way to solve an problem is not to attack it head-on. Instead of a raft of expensive new processes aimed at discouraging the illegals, perhaps we'd be more effective by doing things to disincentivize those who aid and abet them: the legal buzzards who sit around on the fence all day waiting to pick holes in any new legislation that gets rolled out ; and the activists who can at any old time of the night or day find the wherewithal to picket , protest or petition our social media sites.

Which is why I have been a long time sponsor of a nation wide program aimed at providing “refugee” activists with more productive pursuits –and so far this short list:

1) A guest role on Big Brother (on basis that most activists have been playing the role of Big Brother for years, and love to hog the lime light)
2) A guest role on My Kitchen Rules or Celebrity Chef (given how talented activists are in cooking up baloney), or
3) Practically any role or position on SBS or the ABC (where they would already know all of the lines).

I am pretty confident that practically all activists would find at least one of the above to their liking

Perhaps we should re-enact the Siev-X tragedy where it's believed the Australian Navy were told to hold back from rescuing a sinking boat and hundreds drowned as a result.

Remember the stand-off between the Rudd and Indonesian governments over the Tamil refugees rescued in Indonesian waters by the Oceanic Viking?

The Indonesians refused to use force to make them disembark but in reality there were no Indonesian ports willing to accept them so they ended up on Christmas Island.

The Indonesian stance was also a response to the handful of boats earlier turned back by Howard, which they strongly opposed.

So why will "turning back the boats" now work?

Bowen's announcement is just typical standard political spin and Abbott would have responded in exactly the same way.

Hi Wobbles,

Could I interest you in a role on Big Brother or My Kitchen Rules?