Tony Bradshaw wrote on May 16
th, 2011 at 1:03pm:
Agreed. The boat people issue is toxic for the government. People can't stand people self-selecting Australia, paying thousands of dollars to a people smuggler, dumping their passports and then demanding they be given residency. It not fair, its not just and its not right. What the point of even having an immigration system if these people can simply bypass the proper procedures. The reason they are in detention for so long is beacause we have NO IDEA who they are!! They could come by plane if the wanted to but no they choose to come by boat with no ID hoping they will be given preference. The Greens support of this unfair policy is doing them no favours at all.
Actually more people come by other means than a boat, but that's beside the point. Howard made it into a tactical policy to show his "strength." In the end, it might've worked once, but ultimately people are always more concerned about the economy and society in general.
With regard to asylum seekers, I would've hoped hearing about the hundreds of thousands in detention centres in Malaysia and Thailand would've shown you just how irrelevant our "problem" is.
And if people care about the issue, it's more because of the fact that people smugglers
run a trade that endangers people's lives - which is the bigger issue. Your suggestions that these people are ill-fit for Australia and are just a burden to us is a view that is only held by the ultra Right and previous One Nation supporters.
200 have died under labors ill-thoughtout policy. Howards policy ended those needless deaths.
The more you post, the more you show the superiority of Howards policies.