Poirot,

No. Your point was to try and make Oz appear the odd one out in the region as in "Wow! look at how many the Malaysians take".

You second attempt with the same MO but different exemplar , this time Europe , is equally ill-considered.

Most of what Europe "takes" are again not "refugees".They are economic migrants they simply can't turn around. The OLO poster Divergence talks of 100,000's of rejects who simply go missing/go underground and stay-on (look up her posts, they are well worth reading, and much more informative than The Guardian!)

I recall an edition of Radio Deutsche Welle, wherein they reported a survey of north Africans found (from memory) that over half wanted to emigrate to Europe--the figure for Asians who wanted to emigrate to OZ would likely be much higher.

Wake up to the fact that "asylum seeking" is one of the biggest baddest scams around!

Suseonline - Quote "If you are well off and safe in the country you live in, why would you risk death for you and your family" You have the answer but you don't see it - They are safe but not well off a lot have to borrow money or use all they have left to get here and most importantly VERY few countries have a social security system so where ever they were they would have to work (if they can get it and at a low wage) to an old age.

Quote "As for the rubbish about being upset for all the 'poor homeless people' here in Australia, I doubt anyone here really does care about them." That is your opinion.

Simple fact is they have large families because the children are there social security blanket for old age. BUT in the countries they are there is very little work and very low wages, in Indonesia & Malaysia they work for peanuts and somewhere to stay. So come to the land of the GOLDEN HANDSHAKE.

Belly - Quote "We may well see and should see3 the UNHCR make laws to take economic refugees out of its miss used protection rules." Please translate into English?

"I think it's unarguable that if someone is leaving a country and they are part of the majority religious and ethnic group, then they're not being persecuted in the way that the Refugee Convention describes."

This is the dumbest statement I have come across in a long time. How many dictatorships do you know off which have majority support ? for example the vast majority of people fleeing Syria belong to the majority ethnic group. If the only criteria is to be religious or ethnic persecution you have just denied the existence of some 80% of the people who are looking for somewhere safe to live their lives and bring up their families.

Quote below from the UN refuge charter Page 14.

Note it says nothing about majority anywhere.

"owing to wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear,
is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who,
not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former
habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such
fear, is unwilling to return to it."

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search/?page=&comid=3c07a8642&cid=49aea9390&scid=49aea9398

As can be expected where millions of dollars of taxpayers' money has been made available, educated middle class professionals have been quick and entrepreneurial in making a profitable industry and careers out of boat arrivals.

Hello Warmair (appropriate name by the way!),

<< the vast majority of people fleeing Syria belong to the majority ethnic group>>

Yes, but they have sought sanctuary in Jordan next door, they didn't go on a worldwide shopping trip for the most affluent location. And it's a safe bet that the HUGE majority will return to Syria once it settles down--whoever wins.

Did the Ash Wednesday fires or Qld floods entitled anyone affected to permanent residency in the US?

<<owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted>>
As it currently stands they don't have establish anything --just tell a good story.

Warmair, is there some connection between you wanting to sell us down river on the AGW/IPCC scam and you're wanting to open up our borders to the all-comers on the asylum-seeker scam. I mean, is it just that you don't like us, or do you have a deeper malady? just curious!

http://www.watoday.com.au/nsw/syrian-war-triggers-sydney-trouble-20130629-2p3vn.html
Economic or not this link warns us all.
And indeed threatens us too.
Forget the PC ignore those who brand us for our views.
But do not ignore the great changes current migration trends have bought to this part of Sydney.
The same streets once owned by both working class Australians and migrants who came, not to live separately but both remembered their country of origin and took their place here as one of us.
We will see blood on our streets, it just can not be avoided.
Like the riot, that is what it was, based on events in another country the middle east is imploding.
We and other western country,s will suffer, because we tried to help a group unable to help them selves.