Phil If they say "I could not read the signs or instructions" I say you can speak English, should they not be saying " la la la la la la la" Do you believe every worker in Australia can speak or read or even write English, Not so, I spent years working with people who could not do any of the above, in many cases they could not read or write in their own language.
I have asked sbr108 to substantiate the claim in the original post with "sbr108, and how did you obtain these stats from the Immigration Department? would you like to elaborate."
Phil you called it "good work" and "facts" maybe you can elaborate for me, as you unquestioningly accepted them. At least Poirot post had a link, unlike sbr108 "facts" you accept so readily.

Ludwig: BTW Jayb, I am not necessarily saying that all long-time officially illegal residents should be ejected. There is no doubt a very good case for people as per your example to be allowed to stay. But of course it should be formalised and brought in line with the law of the land.

These Commonwealth Members residents should have been granted automatic Citizenship when, I think it was Goff Whitlam, changed the rules. It's one of those things that was over looked when they changed the rules. Now, some young Uni student has a job in immigration & doesn't know much about history or when & how to apply the rules. They have a check list & they just tick boxes, no thinking involved. Brain dead PS.

I have another mate who was a Techie in the Air Force sent to France to pick up a Radar system for the Australian Air Force (all Top Secret Stuff)ex British Green Jackets, SAS, MI6 before he immigrated. When he arrived back in Australia some silly Customs Clerk refused him entry because he didn't have Australian Citizenship, all about the same time. The Air Force rescued him of course & he got his Citizenship rushed through. There are lots of stories of genuine stupidity when it comes to who is & who isn't eligible.

Paul1405 - Like usual your replies defy any logic. You quote Poirot link but fail to mention it is old and has nothing to do with the thread his link was designed to divert the thread, next time he may start his own rather than hijack someone Else's.

You also tried to hijack this thread by diverting to New Zealand people in this country, if you are so against it start your own thread.

To Quote you "I could not read the signs or instructions" I say you can speak English, should they not be saying " la la la la la la la"

Not a very intelligent reply as I am sure you know, there is a big difference between speaking very basic English and understanding instructions regarding industrial machinery etc.

Sorry about the "ancient" (2011) link....

I'm sure there are no (real) "illegals" here now.

For those of you who don't trust my stats you can have a look for yourself... see the pie chart on this link to varify my numbers: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1295782/Asylum-seekers-Where-Australia-stands

If you have time to read the 49 pages of official statictics released by the Dept of Immigration & Citizenship be my guest:
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-march-quarter-2013.pdf

The thread seems to have gone astray. I offered up these figures to dispell the myth that most refugees and asylum seekers are arriving by plane.

For those of you trying to drag the Kiwis into this, that is a whole different issue. Kiwis are here legally; they arrive legally and they are entitled to stay; they share the same culture and 95% of them are productive members of society. Regretably the Kiwis are put into a limbo non-citizenship status where they pay equal taxes but are not entitled to equal social benefits of the other permanent residents; Kiwis are regarded as 'permanently temporary visitors' if they arrived after Feb 2001. The treatment of Kiwi immigrants is legalised discrimination rather than the ANZAC spirit.

sbr what ever sorry but yes I understood your numbers.
And that they are totally wrong.
Bet you know that.
This a mornings ABC breafAst had statistics for fraud in just Indian students, over staying here.
I n the region of 9.000.
Over stayers are in your funny claim like it or not.
You have a few friends here would love these type of threads.
Enjoy but watch the maths OK?