Tag: Asylum Seekers

Pacific Solution working OK but it has John Howard written all over it so let’s change it…ah yes ‘The Indonesian Solution’…sounds better even though it’s much the same. Oops! Not working so let’s see. I know…the Philipines Solution that should do it. Maybe, but not fixing something that wasn’t broken in the first place would have been the better move.

A DOZEN Sri Lankan asylum-seekers are feared dead after their vessel capsized in heavy seas as they sailed direct from Sri Lanka, apparently in an attempt to avoid the Rudd government’s “Indonesian solution”. If Kevin Rudd isn’t rueing the day he changed Howard’s Pacific Solution he’s dumber than I thought but that is on the cards.  Being the type of man he is he’s most probably cranky as all hell at the media for pointing out the problems and the public for questioning his wisdom and would not for a moment be introspective and ask of himself: could I have done it better?  In other news Tony Kevin is planning a book on the incident…not.  Readers may remember Tony who brayed long and loud as he blamed the Howard government for a similar event.  Being of the left I doubt you will hear one word from him such is the hypocracy of his kind.  His book, A Certain Maritime Incident, flayed the then government and cast aspersions on the RAN and the only people who gave him any creditability were Phillip Adams Julian Burnside type tossers. There still are people in the country who think the boat people are legitimate refugees deserving of sympathy rather than what they are – simply people taking advantage of circumstances to migrate to a rich country with the chance of getting their noses in the feeding trough of social security type money.

KEVIN Rudd has told Parliament he does not expect any difficulty in extending the official clearance for the Oceanic Viking to remain anchored off the coast of Indonesia if the standoff with local authorities and asylum-seekers continues. If he had left the the Pacific Solution stand he wouldn’t be in such a bind. Admittedly the Left would hate him but they are going to hate him anyway as Caroline Overington explains;

Now, keen consumers of news will remember that Barnaby Joyce was last week keen to portray himself as the nation’s leading asylum-seeker. But if (Foreign Affairs) Smith is speaking the truth – if it’s now government policy to send boatpeople back to Indonesia, where military police will use force against women and children to get them into detention – it won’t be only Barnaby seeking safe haven. It will be the Left of the Labor Party, not least from the people who put them in power.

So now we just delete Pacific Solution and insert Indonesian Solution and Rudd and Smith spin it as humane and compassionate with just a touch of ‘tough on illegal immigrants’ and we are expected to swallow it? Dig yourself out of this one Rudd. UPDATE: Perth ABC report another boatload of 40 Illegals has just been detected off Ashmore Reef. Might be time to admit that the ALP are accepted as a soft touch by Lifestyle Shoppers posing as refugees.

AFGHAN refugees struggling in the ocean in the aftermath of an explosion aboard their vessel off Ashmore reef in April this year were allegedly kicked and fended off by Australian Defence Force members as they tried to climb aboard inflatable rescue boats. I think it will become apparent that the refugee queue jumpers put themselves in the water in the first place and secondly, the commander needs to get his crew back on board first to effect rescue of the others. If a sailor had drowned there would’ve been hell to pay. Described as ‘inhumane’ and ‘distressing’ by ‘sources’ who would most probably call anything less than an instant four bedroom house and a grand a week from the government as ‘inhumane’ I am less than moved by the story. Bottom line; those that could be saved were in circumstances that threatened the lives of ADF personnel and the Afghans are now safe on land.

THE Federal Government denies Australia is becoming a bigger target for illegal boat people, despite six boats making it into Australian waters in recent months. A boat carrying 37 asylum seekers of unknown nationality was intercepted by the navy yesterday about 110 nautical miles north-east of Darwin.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans admitted a number of boat people had arrived in Australia’s waters recently. “That’s partly due to the season, but partly due to the fact there has been some new tactics deployed,” Senator Evans said.

He’s right of course. We are currently undergoing an ALP season and the new tactics reflect that as well.

A NAVAL ship has intercepted a boatload of 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers heading for Christmas Island. Border Protection Command had been monitoring the boat since it was first spotted by a plane on February 19.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the group have been taken on board HMAS Success, where they will remain temporarily.

Time for the left to start screaming “TAMPA” although they’ve arrived a bit early as the new accommodation at Christmas Island isn’t ready yet. When it is it will be able to accommodate up to 800 queue jumpers….. bring ’em on. A bit early for the election as well. I wonder if we can organize a string of boats to come in regularly to remind the electorate of the lack of a coherant policy from the ALP on the matter.

Ian Lincoln, ambassador to Vietnam from 1986 to 1988, has been accused of passing on confidential information to communist officials about 54 boatpeople who landed in Australia in 2003, while serving on the refugee tribunal.

The leaking claims, which Mr Lincoln strongly denies, were made by the Vietnamese Community in Australia group in a written submission to a Senate inquiry dated August 8 last year.

But the report examines how DFAT handled Mr Lincoln’s relationship with a 16-year-old he met in a park near his home in Hanoi in September 1987.

The report said Mr Lincoln later sponsored the boy to Australia in 1990, where the pair said their relationship became sexual.

Let’s see if I got that right. The Australian Ambassador in Vietnam had a thing about 16 year old Vietnamese boys, seduced one and then brought him back to Australia.

Of course we all believe that the relationship became sexual only after the boy was 18.

What was Bob Hawke thinking?

The Federal Government said any detainees found to have lit fires in the Baxter immigration centre could have their visas cancelled or refused. That’s a start but if found guilty of arson I trust the may becomes will

The Australian reports the Federal Government could not deport asylum seekers unless it proved their country of origin was safe, the Federal Court has ruled. The ruling means more than 1000 asylum seekers facing deportation might be able to stay in Australia.

The decision by justices Murray Wilcox, Rodney Madgwick and Bruce Lander means temporary protection visa (TPV) holders will no longer be forced to prove their refugee status when their three-year visa expires and they could instead be issued with a permanent visa.

Why does the writer presume it means they might be able to stay in Australia. I would have thought the government would appeal to a get the decision reversed so they can deport asylum seekers as they see fit. Remember…we decide who stays, not Murray, Rodney and Bruce.

“There’s a few thousand in that position of not yet having been granted the permanent visa.” Refugee lawyer David Manne doubted there would be a flood of other cases but said it gave hope to hundreds of people seeking permanent residency in Australia.

It also gives hope to dozens of lawyers who have private school bills due and one year old BMWs to update.