So where are the Sri Lankans?

[i-need-a-martini]

These people disappear off the face of the earth and we are given no clue as to whether they are safe or dead or back in India or sent to their death in Sri Lanka?

And aside from the ABC and the SMH, there hase been barely a murmur by the Australian public.

Have we completely lost our compassion??

[boris1gary]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/07/handing-back-asylum-seekers-is-called-refoulement-and-i...

Handing back asylum seekers is called refoulement. And it's illegal

In his first column for Guardian Australia, our new legal editor at large says the handover of Sri Lankans at sea has taken this country into new legal territory

"Sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen," Tony Abbott told us in his stumbling way at the commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka in November last year.

He must have been inspired by Donald Rumsfeld's neat encapsulation of the post-invasion chaos in Iraq: "stuff happens".

Last week "difficult things" were a distant memory as the prime minister soothed us with the message that Sri Lanka "is at peace", even though it is "not everyone's idea of the ideal society".

For the Abbott government the importance of stopping boats of asylum seekers landing on our golden soil is a higher priority than protecting them according to international law.

The Abbott government has taken us into a whole new territory as a result of disregarding Australian human rights obligations under international and domestic law. Conceivably, it opens the path to more high court challenges and embarrassment globally as a human rights pariah.

[durruticolumna]

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@nero_wulf wrote:

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@durruticolumna wrote:
13000 for and 2800 against,eh? My we are going the full-redneck aren't we?

---

The majority of Australians must be in your words rednecks then.  I am sure that the MAJORITY will be thrilled with your description  ... NOT 

http://www.ninemsn.com.au/

Is it right to return asylum seekers to Sri Lanka?

The vote is now

YES 24260

NO 5211  <    is that all.....   a very small minority 

Yep a minority is screaming and making all the noise.... a very small minority.. 

---

A rose by any other name....

[boris1gary]

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@durruticolumna wrote:

---

@nero_wulf wrote:

---

@durruticolumna wrote:
13000 for and 2800 against,eh? My we are going the full-redneck aren't we?

---

The majority of Australians must be in your words rednecks then.  I am sure that the MAJORITY will be thrilled with your description  ... NOT 

http://www.ninemsn.com.au/

Is it right to return asylum seekers to Sri Lanka?

The vote is now

YES 24260

NO 5211  <    is that all.....   a very small minority 

Yep a minority is screaming and making all the noise.... a very small minority.. 

---

A rose by any other name....

---

24260  does not = the majority of Australians - or is morrison planning on "disappearing" the other 23 odd million who haven't voted. 

[*mrgrizz*]

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@boris1gary wrote:

---

@durruticolumna wrote:

---

@nero_wulf wrote:

---

@durruticolumna wrote:
13000 for and 2800 against,eh? My we are going the full-redneck aren't we?

---

The majority of Australians must be in your words rednecks then.  I am sure that the MAJORITY will be thrilled with your description  ... NOT 

http://www.ninemsn.com.au/

Is it right to return asylum seekers to Sri Lanka?

The vote is now

YES 24260

NO 5211  <    is that all.....   a very small minority 

Yep a minority is screaming and making all the noise.... a very small minority.. 

---

A rose by any other name....

---

24260  does not = the majority of Australians - or is morrison planning on "disappearing" the other 23 odd million who haven't voted. 

---

but probably more voters than the number polled in your claim in the other thread.

so take it both ways

[the_great_she_elephant]

An interesting comment Mr Grizz. What information leads  you believey this  poll is more reprsentative of Australian voters  than the other?

[nero_bolt]

OOHHH look at the poll now

The majority of Australians must be in your words rednecks then.  I am sure that the MAJORITY will be thrilled with your description  ... NOT 

http://www.ninemsn.com.au/

Is it right to return asylum seekers to Sri Lanka?

The vote is now

YES 55924  < The Majority are speaking

NO 12307 <    is that all.....  looks like it is a MINORITY 

[boris1gary]

looks like abbotts spin drs are in overdrive today, looking at the ninemsn poll archives the most votes for any particular issue - including some on asylum seekers is generally less than 2000....strange that so many just happened to go to such a source today and vote, wonder why? the other "hot" topic was....no I just found another where 4921 people voted.

Should flight attendants be sacked for sleeping with passengers? 2081 people voted.  

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/voteindex.aspx

[boris1gary]

---

@*mrgrizz* wrote:

---

@boris1gary wrote:

---

@durruticolumna wrote:

---

@nero_wulf wrote:

---

@durruticolumna wrote:
13000 for and 2800 against,eh? My we are going the full-redneck aren't we?

---

The majority of Australians must be in your words rednecks then.  I am sure that the MAJORITY will be thrilled with your description  ... NOT 

http://www.ninemsn.com.au/

Is it right to return asylum seekers to Sri Lanka?

The vote is now

YES 24260

NO 5211  <    is that all.....   a very small minority 

Yep a minority is screaming and making all the noise.... a very small minority.. 

---

A rose by any other name....

---

24260  does not = the majority of Australians - or is morrison planning on "disappearing" the other 23 odd million who haven't voted. 

---

but probably more voters than the number polled in your claim in the other thread.

so take it both ways

---

do i state anywhere "majority of Australians" in my post mr grizz?

[boris1gary]

53 Australian lawyers condemn return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka

Australian international law experts have uniformly condemned Australia’s return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka as a violation of international law that risks sending vulnerable people back to persecution and torture.

Forty-one Sri Lankan nationals who were trying to get to Australia have been handed over to the Sri Lankan Navy. The fate of another 153, understood to have been intercepted at sea in a separate boat, by a customs vessel, is unclear.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/53-australian-lawyers-condemn-return-of-asylum...

[the_great_she_elephant]

I find it surprising that 68,232 individuals would have botheredto  respond to that poll at all. I wonder if ninemsm has a system in place to ensure nobody can set up a program to 'cyber vote' multiple times.