"What's wrong with me driving my Lamborghini Gallardo (pictured here with me at the drivers seat: http://tinyurl.com/laf6the)
driving down the nearest bicycle track --after-all they are both thoroughfares?"

Well,SPQR, if you have a Lamborghini you don't really need to drive down the bicycle track do you? Similarly, if you are a rich businessman from Hong Kong or a great cricketer from India, you wouldn't have to claim asylum or get on a boat. We'll take you instantly and even change the law just for you.

But if you are a poor ALP voter persecuted by the Liberals (or vice versa), I'll support you every inch of the way on your people smuggler boat trip for a better life in New Zealand.

I would not believe a word Bob Carr ever uttered. He actually sees himself as a statesman.

CrisGaff1000 seems carr is not alone in that view.
He was the last NSW leader to have the public on his side.
Maybe the answer to world economic migration, in numbers we do not want.
Using methods we too do not want.
Can come from country,s asking for the United Nations to exclude them from its refugee charter.
If not country,s even more pressed by such people could leave the UN.
We may well be victims of a United Nations experiment.
One trying to meld us in to[a long term plan] one people.

.... I guess we'll have to wait
and see who's elected into government and what decisions
are made in dealing with this complex problem.

Yes Lexi, isn't it a pitty your beloved labor, or more so, Rudd himself, actually created this complex problem.

To think he even deserves a chance to fix it defies logic. He should never be forgiven for the mess he has created, not to mention the hindreds of lives lost as a result.

Hi Cossomby,

Like a lot of those on your side of the debate you appear to have something of a Robin Hood complex.

<<But if you are a poor ALP voter persecuted by the Liberals... I'll support you every inch of the way on your people smuggler boat trip for a better life in New Zealand>>

The reality is that is aiding and abetting the people smugglers and their clientele you are supporting big, corrupt business.
The asylum scammers (particularly those from the Middle East & Iran ) JET in to Jakarta airport , get VIP treatment from corrupt police and officialdom (see here: "And then the police headquarters, the police HQ will escort the boat," http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-25/footage-shows-indonesian-people-smuggler-discussing-his-business/4777288). Then for appearances sake boat to OZ, or more often than not, call on their mobile phones for the Australian navy to pick them up off the Indonesian coast.

The people smugglers cleitele are not the poor blighters you imagine them to be, they are well networked and well briefed--with money and information being channeled to them from confederates already in the West.

You highlighted some abuses of our immigration : << a great cricketer from India [he actually claims be to be from Pakistan]>>

This should tell how the assessment process is open to manipulation.

And this has already been outed/criticized by those on our side of the debate --see Phillips great post above:
"The public servant a year or so ago who said they were told to pass some" http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/images/icon_link_grey.gif

It is reason to tighten up the system not to say ":well if the cricket cronies can bend the rules. Then I'm going to do it to from my economic migrant mates from south Asia"

Indi, another example of how you establish "truths" based purely on your irrational perceptions.
You say; "I SEE public servants waste huge dollars on a daily basis yet you try to contradict my experience. Let this sink into you & then try to digest. 85% of the public service IS OF NO USE TO ANYONE except themselves."
I'm not contradicting your experience, I'm questioning you irrational thought process. According to the ABS there are about 1,800,000 public servants employed Australia wide, of this number how many's work performance have you actually observed? I claim your figure of 85% is nothing more than a figment of your imagination.Unless you can substantiate this figure of 85% then I offer it as evidence that you do indeed use your 'minds eye' to create false "truths", prime example 85%. Its not unusual for irrational thinking people to pluck figures like 85% or 99$ out of the air and then offer them as fact. Then you go on to blame a section of the community for you irrational creation, "The people to blame for this are those who vote ALP."
Indi, if you are able to substantiate your figure of 85% with real evidence then I will apologise to you unreservedly, and I to will then blame those ALP voters for the mass of useless public servants.