polite_gandalf wrote on Jul 11
th, 2014 at 3:23pm:
greggerypeccary wrote on Jul 11
th, 2014 at 3:00pm:
Yes, the need to flee persecution.
Exactly.
I really can't understand the mindset here - the blind assumption that because these people have the means to pay people smugglers, they are therefore economic migrants - so called "country shoppers".
By all means, screen the economic migrants out, but only after a full and fair assessment. The argument here is not who should and shouldn't venture out to seek asylum, but rather the obligation Australia has to process each and every claim fully and fairly.
There are Convention signatory countries next to every Middle Eastern country these people come from.
They could all go there are claim and be granted asylum.
But the ones with means are not interested in mere
asylum, they want fast tracked permanent
settlement (not covered by the Convention). So they are willing to fly half way around the world to claim asylum in the country where they want to settle permanently (ie migrate to).
This is what has been shut down now.
I hope you are clearer on this now.
Do you know that only about 10% of refugees are actually registered, the majority are not in any queue and probably are not even aware that Australia claims that there is a queue.
People naturally want long term certainty along with the protection they need and this is typically what is historically offered to genuine refugees - Safety and security on a long term basis. Hardly unreasonable that most would no see long term uncertainty as a desirable long term solution.