[paraclete]

In a first for Australia we have declared a war on asylum seekers, or is that people smugglers. This has all the dimensions of a storm in a teacup but we have at last admitted the war exists. We have plucked them out of the water, we have sent them back in increasing numbers, we have interned them in out of the way places and still they come, so it's WAR

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The latest shots in this war are a war of words with Indonesia as to whether it supports our policies of turning back the boats. One indonesian general says he understands the policy and this has been interpreted as a backhanded agreement with it. The latest additions to the war are apparently a fleet of lifeboats intended to deter asylum seekers from sabotaging their boats at sea. Will these lifeboats replace expensive patrol boats who's duties will now be to push boats back to Indonesia and what happens when boats originate from Sri Lanka will we tow them back too?

[paraclete]

I see there is just no interest in the asylum seeker/refugee problem even though it is a world wide problem, my earlier post Turning the tide dealt with the wider ramifications but you would rather crap on about the ACA which affects only a very small percentage of the world's population

[tomder55]

yeah it's a problem .Here we stop boat people because if they had any sense they'd land in Mexico and walk across the border.

[tomder55]

it could be worse .you could have a common border with Syria. Turkey has already absorbed 600,000 refugees.

[paraclete]

Yes and if ours had any sense they would do the same, but it doesn't solve the problem, you are awash with illegal immigrants and so are we, you being a more tolerant and trusting people allow them among your population, we on the other hand try to avoid this. In Europe they have the same problem and they smuggle themsleves across the borders and the oceans there. None of us want to see these stupid people, most of whom have no experience with deep water, drown on the way to a place that will just turn them around because dispite the vacant space, no one can live there except the camels, another unwanted immigrant

[talaniman]

Still they come, and always will as long as they see you as a better place than the one they are from. It's always been that way and America was built on it, and so was Australia. LOL, few if any of you are natives, but have displaced the natives just as we have here. The spoils of conquest whether by war, or just raw numbers.

They have been running back and forth through the middle east for centuries, so what makes you think others will stop running from wars and dictators because you don't like them? What are you afraid they will increase their numbers and subjugate you the way you subjugated the natives you found?

[paraclete]

We are not afraid, although they bring many problems with them Tal not the least of which is violence, many of our violent crimes are committed by people who are obviously from the middle east and other such places. The reality is we cannot absorb these people in large numbers, there is no employment for them, there is no housing, our inferstructure is not geared to large increase in the population and in any case we have a migration program for asylum seekers appropriate to our population size. We take 250,000 migrants a year including asylum seekers. They congregate in cities and turn suburbs into ghettos. Our concern is that they don't come by sea where the risks are they will drown because the boats they use are substandard and overcrowded. We are not geared to processing asylum claims onshore. If the transit countries were responsible they would not allow them to pass through their borders as they create a problem there too

[paraclete]

Indonesia demands Australia stops risking violation of territory - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Indonesia demands Australia stops risking violation of territory - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

well there it is escalation of the verbal argument, eventually Indonesia will get the message, these incursions into our territory are their problem. It is not good enough to sanction a business in these voyages. personally I think we should allow them to land on Ashmore reef and leave them there. they can settle the place, plenty of fish

[paraclete]

Indonesia to raise Australian asylum seeker policy with United States - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Indonesia brings in the big guns, we are going to be reported to our big brother across the water as if we were not a soveriegn nation. So the Indonesians want to lean on the US so we will allow them to trash our soveriegnty by permitting their nationals to ply a trade in people smuggling with impunity, they probably think that the US having bases here gives them leverage, while the opposite is true the US will want to preserve it's bases here. Fact is, asylum seekers on their soil is their problem and the sooner they close their borders to itinerants the better

[paraclete]

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

times are tough on Manus Island as reality sets in for "asylum seekers" the more you demonstrate the more you reveal about why you will not make a good citizen