With the UN reporting that for the first time since WWII there is now over 50 million people world wide whom they class as refugees, asylum-seekers, or internally displaced persons. This number is growing rapidly, with no likelihood of it reducing anytime soon.
Correspondingly, the tide of displaced persons on the move world wide is also growing.
Unless more is done to take people from a situation of short term humanitarian care, or in the extreme cases total abandonment, and into a real world of long term self-reliance, the position can only deteriorate, both for those seeking life improvement, and any possible hosts, including Australians.
The development of the "Fortress Australia" policy and its ensuing actions by the Abbott government can only be effectual in the short term at best. The present policy does nothing to elevate the growing refugee problem in our region. At sometime in the future Australia is going to have to adjust, and implement a more favorable and sustainable solution, if for no other reason than for our own benefit. Otherwise a less than desirable outcome could be imposed by others, simply through the sheer numbers of these disaffected peoples.

Paul,
The only sustainable solution is to end all immigration, nobody should be allowed to migrate anywhere at any time.
You can see the future just by looking at Greece, Italy, the Balkans or the south west of the U.S.A.
Norway can't make the compassionate approach work, the U.K can't make it work, Sweden can't make it work so what we can deduce from that is that compassion doesn't work.
This isn't 1947 where the refugees are decent, intelligent Europeans down on their luck or fleeing Communism, it's 2015 and the refugees are low IQ African and Asian criminals who destroy everything they touch.
The issue of compassion goes out the window anyway as soon as a the brown people start flooding in, robbing, raping, murdering and taking over whole suburbs as their own.

Jay, I take it then your answer is a declaration of "war" on the brown people? It is one thing to declare closed boarders, it is altogether a different thing trying to enforce such a policy, given the state of play in the world as it exists today. You say a compassionate policy does not work, you point to examples to make your case. Then I say a fortress mentality will not work in the long term either. If you do not accept immigration as viable, then how do you physically stop people from moving from where they are, to where they want to be? Particular given those numbers are on the increase.

The 'end of compassion' is in doing what Labor PM Rudd did, create the ideal environment for the criminal gangs involved in people smuggling and resulting in thousands of deaths at sea.

Dear Robert Le Page,

On another thread I spoke of an Asian sensibility around capital punishment and this latest episode of the plight of the Rohingya refugees being turned back from Thailand and Malaysian shores is reflecting more of the same. When these countries were doing similar things to Vietnamese refugees Malcolm Fraser stepped up to the plate and showed what I like to think of as an Australian sensibility and took in literally tens of thousands of these poor wretches. They ended up contributing to this great country in many ways and were eternally grateful for the assistance we gave them.

There are those on this thread who are hell bent on Australia becoming like so many other Asian countries where compassion is a secondary concern. Thankfully, despite our right wing, dog whistle, slimy politicians and few rancid types on this thread, I truly believe we are far from seeing the 'end of compassion', at least where Australia is concerned.

One note, in the light of recent events the Gillard refugee swap deal with Malaysia that fell through would seem to have had some merit.

Conservative Hippie "I've answered your question, so its only fair I expect you will answer mine: Can you please provide the number of boat people refugees you would feel comfortable allowing into Australia over the next five years?"

I have no idea how many boat people to allow in.
Surely that would depend on how many were needing to find refugee status over the next 5 years, and I doubt anyone can say?

What I would hope is that Australia works closely with our neighboring countries and agree on our fair share of these poor people.
Australia has to participate in the World society/economy, as well as in our own country.
If we were to go it alone and 'close our borders', how long do you think it would take for other countries to slap sanctions on us, refuse to trade with us, or worse, declare war on us?

Abbott is an idiot for saying he won't condemn other close by countries for turning back the boats, because he believes they are following our lead and doing the right thing.
Is he therefore saying that our navy also turned back boatloads of starving, sick and dehydrated refugees to certain death on the open seas?

So...if we don't want to take them in as refugees, we just send them on their way to be killed?