Banjo, If I could afford to come by airline of course I would. Unfortunately I would also need papers which might not be so easy to come by in a war torn or chaotic country, or in a place where I was being persecuted.
Why do you think genuine asylum seekers who can afford to come by airplanes come by boat instead?

There are some posters on this thread who should by Law not be allowed to identify themselves as Australians. They are traitors of the most hypocritical kind.
Go to the countries whence these pseudo refugees hail from & do your do-gooding there.
Leave us out of it. If indeed we would face being refugees ourselves then it is entirely due to those who fight us fighting the refugee influx war.
You're not helping refugees you're aiding the agenda of destroying this country by the madness that is a certain religion.

Landrights4all,
The illegals have no problem getting papers that allow them to fly to Malaysia or to Indonesia. It is then they pay the $5000+ to get to Aus by boat. Aus visas are not that hard to get, we provide about a million or so a year. They may have to show they have funds for their expected stay and/or have return ticket.

The reason the illegals pay so much more to come by boat is because they have a far better chance of success of getting permanent residence, which is what they seek. Only about 20% of legal entrants that apply for asylum are successful. Wheras about 90% of illegals get permanent residence. Illegals that arrive by air are sent back to the place they boarded ASAP.

That is why I view all those that come by boat as economic migrants who are gate crashing our country and are shonks. No docs means we cannot prove their identity so cannot deport them. All this has been explained many times on this forum.

Here is a great statistic.

In a Pew Global Attitudes Survey, a MAJORITY OF PEOPLE surveyed, in 44 of 47 countires worldwide, agreed with the statement that " We should restrict and control entry of people into our country more than we do now"

Paul1405 I am still waiting for your comment re this post from page 12.

Paul1405 Quote "80% of refugees are at this moment living in third world countries" - This sound like a compelling winning statement on your behalf EXCEPT for 2 MAJOR points.
1 Those 80% are being supported and kept alive by the MONEY from mostly western countries or Arab countries pressured by western countries.

2) Those third world countries give then nothing but the land they can temporarily use for the camps.

It is only STUPID western countries that put out the golden welcome mat.

Banjo, In your previous post you asked why people with enough money to pay a smuggler don't save the money and come by air. I guess you are answering your own question now - it is because if they survive the boat trip they stand a better chance of finding refuge here. Can you imagine how desperate they must be to take that risk on the high seas? No wonder 90 percent of them are found to be genuine. My guess would be that those who come by air are more suspect.

The point you make also makes my case. How we choose to view the world this very different.

From my personal experience with refugees claiming asylum I can assure you that the department of immigration looks into how people got here from their home country very carefully in order to determine if a genuine or not.