Dear Foxy,

There are currently fifty million genuine refugees around the world, in hell-holes on almost every continent. Out of those fifty million, perhaps fifty million are entitled to be selected as part of Australia's annual quota of genuine refugees.

I'm all in favour of increasing the annual quota, to include some of those in extra-desperate need, such as people from the war zones in Syria and the Rohingya currently being persecuted by the Burmese government, in cahoots with local reactionaries.

Fifty million. If any are wealthy enough (or can scrape up the fare from their dirt-poor relations), should they have some right to jump the queue ? I don't think so: there are many, many more who wouldn't ever able to do even that much.

IF Abbott allowed every boat-load to arrive in Australia and counted them as part of the annual quota, what impact would that have on those others of the fifty million genuine refugees ? Wouldn't it exclude an equivalent number of them from every getting here ?

Fifty million. How much should Australia's annual quota be ? How many , out of fifty million, could we take ? All of them ? Obviously not. Then, how many ? And surely the most desperate ? Not those in third countries with the cash to get on a boat.

Now that Abbott has found a way to stop the boats in their tracks, as it were, and deprive the entire smuggling racket of its income, we can get back to welcoming genuine refugees who have done all the right things, applied, waited, vegetated, and taken their turn.

Increase the annual quota, by all means. Take the most desperate, as Howard did in 1999 with the Kosovars. Anybody remember the Kosovars ? A bloke pushing his grandmother over the icy mountains in a f....ing wheelbarrow ? Ah, such short memories.

Then along come that UN idiot Shetty, suggesting we should take economic migrants as well. Two words:

India.

China

Hi FOXY...I will do that, but for now I've exhausted any further comments I'd like to make on this topic. Other than to conclude by adding, many, I repeat, 'many' of these 'genuine' refugees, quite precipitately somehow evolve or mutate themselves, from being desperate Islamic refugees, into something else altogether different ?

Therefore instead of our Social Security, or our Health systems, rendering them necessary assistance, they fall squarely under the aegis of police and the security intelligence services ? Seemingly, our Immigration Authorities, are neither sufficiently trained or adequately resourced, to properly screen each and everyone of these potential refugees. Nothing unusual about that, some even confound our Intelligence Officers, such is their deeply prepared cover ?

Somehow FOXY, I don't believe I'd ever convince you. Any convincing that need be done, I'll leave for you to observe, as they'll predictable unfold, for all to see in our community !

Foxy,
I am not disturbed at all that the PM will not comment nor that labor will not comment further either.

All we have is some allegations so do not be surprised if the stories change. There is not evidence that money was even given and if so what for? It could well be that we paid for information, which is standard practice in Asia.

It seems that Gordon, like you, was beating the story up, but Paul Sheehan, also of the Fairfax press, virtually ran an almost identical story to what I said this morning. It would save you embarrassment if you wait until more facts come out before trying to hang Abbott.

Even if we did pay the crew to go back to Indonesia, for whatever reason, has it not occurred to you that the people smugglers will soon run out of customers if the customers do not get what they have paid for.

Fox, "It's interesting that when being assessed in the past most of them turned out to be genuine(sic) refugees"

There I fixed that for you. One of the criticisms of the Rudd and Gillard governments is that those responsible for making immigration decisions turned a blind eye to the obvious abuses to conceal the shattering negative consequences of the foolish Rudd's bloody-minded decision to trash Howard's working Pacific Solution.

The economic migrants knew the drill and were coached by the international criminal gangs and by the members of the gangs already in Australia and their hirelings and apologists - many who swing from the Aussie taxpayer's teat, regrettably.

Two years ago Rudd changed his mind and so did his Foreign Minister and many of his ministers, to realise that trashing the Pacific Solution was naive.

<"AUSTRALIA needs a tougher assessment regime for asylum seekers to stem the growing number of economic migrants coming by boat, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
Senator Carr, who switched his support from Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd in Wednesday's leadership ballot, said the make up of people arriving by boat had changed in recent years.
There was evidence a growing number of boat arrivals were economic refugees, and not asylum seekers, from countries like Iran, he said.
"These are increasingly not people fleeing persecution," Senator Carr told the Senate during question time on Thursday.
"They are paying for passage with people smugglers.">
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/carr-flags-tougher-boat-policy-under-rudd/story-e6frfku9-1226670716464

Foxy - Quote "It's interesting that when being assessed in the past most of them turned out to be genuine refugees."

You forget the fact that the public servants etc that were assessing them admitted something like only a very small percentage were properly checked.

Dear Banjo,

I agree with Mark Kenny's evaluation
that "the political threads of asylum
seeker policy are now so inflamed that
a rational discussion over push and pull
is hard to imagine, much less lead to
anything approaching a genuine national
consensus."

What we have at the moment despite so
many people's earlier immigration anxiety and
national security now reveals concerns
of the dangers of unchecked power.

As Kenny tells us -
"The revelation that the Australian government
may be secretly paying people smugglers to turn
their boats around, suggests to many that the
architects of policy are as short of a compass
as the hapless souls they would deny."

Kenny points out that domestically, Abbott
has been on a winner...

That many people even "suspended judgement of what felt
like an un-Australian levels of operational
secrecy regarding "on-water matters" so as to
deny the "human filth" and "criminal scum" of
the people-smuggling trade the tools and product
needed to keep going."

However, Kenny says - that "suspension must surely
now be withdrawn. Whatever it takes is a dangerous
idea in any endeavour, but when carried out in
secret and in the denial of a human crisis, it risks
being criminal itself."

You will probably not agree with Kenny but I do.
"It is time for a return to proper levels of
accountability."