Dear Paul,

The Gulf countries have contributed to humanitarian aid.
Saudi Arabia has given 18.4 million dollars to the
United Nation's Syria response fund so far this year,
while Kuwait has given more than 304 million, making it the
world's 3rd largest donor. It turns out that the United
States has given the most - 1.1 billion dollars and has
agreed to re-settle about 1,500 Syrians. The Gulf countries
have taken 160,000 Syrians in the last 3 years.

Of course finger-pointing is happening that not enough is
being done. Many in the Gulf States are blaming the US and the
West for letting the conflict fester for more than 4 years
while Mr Assad's forces deployed chemical weapons and
bombed civilian areas causing so many people to flee.

Dear Paul,

I forgot to add the website of the article by
Ben Hubbard (NY Times) that explains the current
situation more clearly of why the Gulf States
are under attack for their response to the
Syrian refugees. It's worth a read.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/06/why-gulf-states-wont-do-more-to-help-refugees-fleeing-syria-for-europe.html

Foxy - $10 says that the audience were vetted in advance to stack it in favor of what the producers wanted.

If you think that was not a biased result you are kidding yourself.

Fox,

From your link and should we take it that you side with "Kuwaiti commentator Fahad Alshelaimi who said in a TV interview that his country was too expensive for refugees, but appropriate for laborers"?

<The Arab nations of the Persian Gulf have some the world's highest per capita incomes. Their leaders speak passionately about the plight of Syrians, and their state-funded news media cover the Syrian civil war without cease.

Yet as millions of Syrian refugees languish elsewhere in the Middle East and many have risked their lives to reach Europe or died along the way, Gulf nations have agreed to resettle only a surprisingly small number of refugees.

..humanitarian groups are increasingly accusing the Arab world's richest nations of not doing enough to help out.

Accenting that criticism are the deep but shadowy roles countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have played in Syria by bankrolling rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

And wealthy Gulf citizens — with or without their governments' knowledge — have helped fund the rise of Syria's jihadists, according to American officials.

"Burden sharing has no meaning in the Gulf, and the Saudi, Emirati and Qatari approach has been to sign a check and let everyone else deal with it," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch for its Middle East and North Africa division. "Now everyone else is saying, 'That's not fair.' "

There are, in fact, hundreds of thousands of Syrians in the Gulf, where vast oil wealth and relatively small citizen populations have made the countries prime destinations for workers from poorer Arab countries and elsewhere. While many expatriates are professionals who have built lucrative careers there, most are low-paid laborers who give up their rights to get jobs and can be deported with little notice.

This group now contains many Syrians who have fled the war, although they get none of the protections or financial support that come with legal refugee or asylum status, nor a path to future citizenship — benefits Gulf countries do not grant.>

Dear Philip,

I have no way of knowing about whether the
audience was "stacked" in favour of what the
producers wanted as you suggest. Although
logic dictates that this would be a rather
difficult thing to do when allowing people
into the auditorium as everyone is allowed in.
So I'm not too sure about your suggestion.
As for the panel? That usually has a pretty good
representation from all sides of politics.
Mike Baird, the Liberal NSW Premier was very impressive
last night. Sadly he's a state politician. We could
use him in Canberra. We need more like him.

otb,

Which part of -
LEAVE ME ALONE!
do you not understand.

Foxy, it might be open to everyone to go BUT a simple phone call to a few advocacy groups will soon fill it with what the producers want.