Asylum Seeker Boat Crash at Christmas Island


Why do they do it? 3,000 km from anywhere and obviously inexperienced seafarers and now we will get all the political hoha about how this is a result of the policies. It is tragic that these people have been lost at sea, Australia has tried for years to deter these voyages in small boats in the open sea, it isn't like crossing the river, but these people are driven to ever move on toward that elusive goal, a new life in utopia, in that fabled land of red dust, Kangaroos and Koalas.

Are they refugees ?

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Originally Posted by paraclete

Asylum Seeker Boat Crash at Christmas Island

Why do they do it?

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Hello clete:

I don't know, clete. But, if seeking a better life was was good enough for your ancestors, why not these people?

By the way, I'd change the title of your question to more accurately describe the situation:

"The price of drawing lines on a map, and not letting people cross 'em"

excon

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Originally Posted by tomder55

are they refugees ?

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Well Tom that needs to be determined, they might be or they may be economic migrants, it was said they were from Iraq and Iran, so I would think probably the latter

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello clete:

I dunno, clete. But, if seeking a better life was was good enough for your ancestors, why not these people?

By the way, I'd change the title of your question to more accurately describe the situation:

"The price of drawing lines on a map, and not letting people cross 'em"

excon

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It's been a long while since I've been on this site for any period, but I remember you Ex; and again I couldn't agree more with your answer more. (P.S. the "couldn't agree more" part of the sentence my not be grammatically correct... lol)

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello clete:

I dunno, clete. But, if seeking a better life was was good enough for your ancestors, why not these people?

By the way, I'd change the title of your question to more accurately describe the situation:

"The price of drawing lines on a map, and not letting people cross 'em"

excon

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Well Ex, there are ways to do it and these people have decided to take a different path. This has little to do with drawing lines on a map and a great deal to do with stupidity and greed and of course getting ahead of everyone else in the line, opportunism. The stupidity of the emigrant in believing the people smugglers and the greed of the people smugglers. What these people crossed was not a line on a map or some muddy little river masquerading as a border but the Indian Ocean in monsoon, not something you do in a small wooden boat. Even an Australian customs boat with others on board was standing off Christmas Island for three days because of weather

Like your own nation, Ex, not everyone who would like to come here can be accommodated, we didn't throw open our doors as you did a century ago and there is a reason for that, as a small nation in population, we can only absorb a certain number each year. Accommodation is already at a premium in our cities, property prices here are much higher than america, and we don't have the manufacturing industries than can absorb unskilled people

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Originally Posted by paraclete

This has little to do with drawing lines on a map and a great deal to do with stupidity and greed..............

Accommodation is already at a premium in our cities, property prices here are much higher than america, and we don't have the manufacturing industries than can absorb unskilled people

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Hello again, clete:

Yup. GREED is at the heart of it..

excon

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, clete:

Yup. GREED is at the heart of it..

excon

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Yes Ex there is a lot of it about, exploitation is everywhere

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Originally Posted by paraclete

Why do they do it?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by paraclete

This has little to do with drawing lines on a map and a great deal to do with stupidity and greed and of course getting ahead of everyone else in the line, opportunism. The stupidity of the emigrant in believing the people smugglers and the greed of the people smugglers. What these people crossed was not a line on a map or some muddy little river masquerading as a border but the Indian Ocean in monsoon, not something you do in a small wooden boat. Even an Australian customs boat with others on board was standing off Christmas Island for three days because of weather

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Desperation drives people to do things they normally wouldn't do. In my opinion these people had to have been absolutely desperate to leave behind everything they have ever known for the unknown in such a drastic way. I don't think it is wise to assume these types of Aussie emigrants are people who have the benefit of education and understand how far a trip they had ahead of them, not to mention being well informed of the usual weather conditions that occur during this time of year.

You are right about the greed of the smugglers. They prey on these desperate people and are the ones who are to blame for these tragedies. Unfortunately, as long as there are desperate people in this world looking to change their circumstances, there will always be people ready and willing to exploit that desperation.

*edit* I wrote this before I saw your last response to Excon.

Over here in the USA we have Haitians come to this country on large ships and then are set adrift in itty bitty boats to land somewhere in Florida. We have Mexicans fording the Rio Grande to alight into NM, AZ, TX. We have other peoples enter Canada and then sneek over the border into the US from the North.

And you think YOU'VE got problems? HA! A couple of folks in a boat and you're jumping up and down? Try taking in millions of illegal (er I mean immigrants) coming into your country and see how you feel then. And the best part of it will be when they start DEMANDING they have RIGHTS in your country. Until then be thankful you don't have folks coming into your country in droves lke the USA does each day/week/month/year and can't do much about the problem and only send back a "token" amount of these folks back to their original countries.

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

Over here in the USA we have Haitians come to this country on large ships and then are set adrift in itty bitty boats to land somewhere in Florida. We have Mexicans fording the Rio Grande to alight into NM, AZ, TX. We have other peoples enter Canada and then sneek over the border into the US from the North.

And you think YOU'VE got problems? HA!! A couple of folks in a boat and you're jumping up and down? Try taking in millions of illegal (er I mean immigrants) coming into your country and see how you feel then. And the best part of it will be when they start DEMANDING they have RIGHTS in your country. Until then be thankful you don't have folks coming into your country in droves lke the USA does each day/week/month/year and can't do much about the problem and only send back a "token" amount of these folks back to their original countries.

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I am thankful we don't have the many problems we observe in america. People demand their rights because you make such a big thing about rights. Do we have a problem, yes it is convincing even those whose status has been accepted not to take this route. We don't want to send people back, we have tried that solution but it doesn't work and I don't doubt that if we didn't have a big natural barrier we might have the same problems you do.We have thousands of people who fly here and outstay their visa but this isn't about them, this is about saving people from themselves

Don't tell me you can't do much about the problem, that starts with the will to do what has to be done. I don't doubt that in the early eighteen hundreds Mexico had the same dilemma when viewing the migration into Texas. That ultimately cost them 2/3 of their land. If Mexicans are fording the Rio Grande it might be that they see it as their land anyway. Our problem isn't of the same nature, these people have no affinity, not even a distant one with this place. Look, the problem of what to do with refugees and large numbers of economic migrants is a difficult question there are millions of displaced people in the world. What we try to do is to take a number we can assimulate into our populations without developing the social problems prevalent in america and Europe