Kevin Rudd has sold out to get elected?

[j*oono]

I'm really disappointed.  Now we are not just the lucky country.  We are the up yours country.

Refugees are being turned back to suffer in PNG.   Every election I am so sick of the boat refugees being used.  Every single time since Howard got in with the kids being thrown into the water to drown it's been the most disgusting use of human life to rule a country.

Shame on you Rudd.

[i-need-a-martini]

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@waterlilycat wrote:

They have a 2 page agreement with PNG. Nothing is settled this is just an announcement before the electin so he can win. This is the worst of Labor writ large for all to see.

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Seriously you think that is the agreement? An internet fact sheet on the Dept of Immigrations website aimed to inform potential asylum seekers what the new arrangment will be? Lol!

[i-need-a-martini]

The best idea is to stop the boats 

And HOW??

The last 2 weeks have made it clear that the Coalitions policy is not going to be accepted by the Indonesian government.

So how are they planning to stop the boats? Are they going to position the Navy permanantly all in a line nose to nose where the waters suddenly turn from Indonesian to Australian waters? Or are they going to nudge them back into their own waters? Or are they going to tow them right back to Indonesia and march them all back on land?

And are they going to instruct our Navy to not assist when boats start breaking apart because they are unseaworthy or get sabotaged by smugglers who see their sinking ship as their only saviour or capsize as 150 people swarm to the side begging for help?

I don't know what the solution is. Well actually I do but it seems to be most unpalatable for most Australians. So Rudds idea at least might be the only solution available however drastic it seems.

[donnashuggy]

You will never ever stop people wanting a better life and that is exactly what most people were doing coming to Australia by boat, the PNG solution will sort the ones wanting a better life from the ones fleeing their country because of persecution because of religion/race/political views etc.

It may be a political stunt by Rudd but at the end of the day if it works - which I guess it will then we can thank him for that.

It should win him the election given that Tony's stop the boats campaign was so popular and one of the main reasons that people were planning on voting Liberal, that and the dismantling of the Carbon Tax (that has been axed too)

The Liberal Party will have to come up with some clever policies to out do Rudd now and it wont be Paid Parental Leave.

[i-need-a-martini]

The Liberal Party will have to come up with some clever policies to out do Rudd now and it wont be Paid Parental Leave.

I can't imagine that they can come up with anything that will change the direction things are heading in. They have fallen on their own sword - they made such a big issue of things like asylum seekers, the economiy and CT. What's left for them?

The ALP has well and truly pulled the rug from right under the Oppositions feet.

[donnashuggy]

They will probably zone in on the budget I would say. 

[katydidthat]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/20/nauru-detention-centre-burns-down

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-20/asylum-seekers-in-police-custody-after-riot-at-nauru/4832876

60 million dollars worth of damage (I didn't know tents cost that much).  

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/un-refugee-agency-condemns-nauru-detent...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru_detention_centre

There were 545 asylum seekers on Nauru ... if $60,000,000 dollars is spent on rebuilding these horrible insanitary "homes", it will cost $120,000 per person ...  wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper) to bring these poor people here and give them Newstart Allowance?  

[freakiness]

The point is we are not getting swamped.

All the people that arrived by boat since Labor have been in office would not fill the MCG seats.

We are not being over run or swamped by refugees.

[i-need-a-martini]

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@freakiness wrote:

The point is we are not getting swamped.

All the people that arrived by boat since Labor have been in office would not fill the MCG seats.

We are not being over run or swamped by refugees.

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No we are not being swamped. Any sensible person should be able to understand that.

But unfortunately the Howard/Abbott legacy has stuck - that somehow our borders are being overrun with 'illegals' who could potentially be 'terrorists'. 

[donnashuggy]

If the policies weren't changed we would be over-run and it is simply unfair that those most in need in the world are not getting priority. For a start they don't have the money to even get on a boat.

[katydidthat]

The thing that many of ARE being swamped by is the rhetoric from the major political parties. I can't work out if it's a conspiracy or a competition.