tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post251501691695475916..comments2024-03-23T06:43:45.246+10:00Comments on 1735099: Australia - Asylum for Political LunaticsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post-55781835479856058652010-04-13T07:00:23.822+10:002010-04-13T07:00:23.822+10:00Richard Sharpe
Here's another trick.
I'm...Richard Sharpe<br /><br />Here's another trick.<br /><br />I'm a Tamil (or an Hazara). I don't have a passport. I belong to a minority out of favour with the authorities - the same authorities who issue passports and visas. For my sake, and if I have a family, their sake, I can't put my hand up to apply for a passport without risking possibly life-threatening consequences. I opt for a slightly less dangerous method of securing a future, and risk the services of a people-smuggler. <br /><br />This extract from your post neatly explains another reason why some (about a quarter of unauthorised arrivals based on ABS figures) resort to people smugglers and boats - <br /><br />"If I really was an impoverished goat-herder from Afghanistan, I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of being able to fly to Indonesia and pay for a people smuggler. I would turn up at a refugee camp, scrape a miserable existence until the UNHCR processed my claim and sent me to whatever country I was allocated. I would then be damned grateful that my kids could grow up without some medieval religious nut blowing them up at school."<br /><br />You seem resentful that this minority are able to get their hands on enough readies to use people smugglers.<br /><br />In any case, whether these people fit the clichéd "poor and huddled" is not the issue. What I object to is the cowardly demonising of unauthorised arrivals by politicians on both sides and the MSM.<br /><br />This process of identifying a group of people, and then demonising them for base political reasons has been used by unscrupulous political leaders down through the years. Whether the perpetrator is a Hitler (the Jews), a Mugabe (Westerners in general) or someone with less notoriety such as Howard (refugees) or Rudd (refugees/people smugglers), the process is unacceptable in a modern democracy.<br /><br />As a Vietnam veteran I had personal experience of this returning to Australia at the height of the Moratorium and being called a "baby-killer" by a teaching colleague. This is lower-brain politics, yet it captures the support of the ignorant and bigoted in this country to the extent that it becomes an electoral issue.<br /><br />Asylum, anyone?1735099https://www.blogger.com/profile/17945140949290600423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post-61370672704748256272010-04-13T06:53:01.110+10:002010-04-13T06:53:01.110+10:00BOAB
I'd be surprised if your father-in-law wa...BOAB<br />I'd be surprised if your father-in-law was used as political fodder back then. Our political atmosphere has degenerated since that time. <br />I've got no problem with managing our intake - it's demonising them that I object to.1735099https://www.blogger.com/profile/17945140949290600423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post-56672073286200788292010-04-12T22:39:08.441+10:002010-04-12T22:39:08.441+10:00Here’s the trick, the people coming over on the bo...Here’s the trick, the people coming over on the boats are not the poor and huddled masses. Here’s why:<br /><br />I just did a quick search. Sri Lankan Airways will do a one-way flight from Colombo to KL for just over USD $230. That is using their cheapest flight option, booking 6 months in advance, and only going as far as KL. To catch a boat, I would then need to get to Indonesia. Malaysian Airlines will do that for USD $70. To get this far, I’d need to own a passport.<br /><br />I now need to engage the services of a people smuggler. This is where it will start to sting. A one way trip in a dangerously unseaworthy vessel will set me back somewhere in the vicinity of USD $10000. <br /><br />Having duly paid my people smuggler, I then discard my passport and any other documentation that I may have had that would be of use to immigration officials and board the boat. The boat then makes the hazardous journey from Indonesia to the extremities of Australian territory, usually Ashmore Reef or Christmas Island. On current form, I would then wait for the RAN shuttle service, or even better, land and ring 000 to let them know we’ve arrived. If things go pear-shaped and we are intercepted in dubious coordinates, the crew will set fire to the boat obligating the RAN to take us on board.<br /><br />After a much safer ride to Christmas Island aboard the RAN shuttle, I then spin a tale of woe to anyone who will listen, wait out the processing time being housed and fed at Australian taxpayer’s expense, and wait for my resettlement with all the appropriate starter assistance a grateful Australian people will give me.<br /><br />I earn more than the average wage in a reasonably prosperous first world country. It would take some time and scrimping to come up with USD $ 10000. If I really was an impoverished goat-herder from Afghanistan, I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of being able to fly to Indonesia and pay for a people smuggler. I would turn up at a refugee camp, scrape a miserable existence until the UNHCR processed my claim and sent me to whatever country I was allocated. I would then be damned grateful that my kids could grow up without some medieval religious nut blowing them up at school.<br /><br />If I was in fact a genuine candidate for political asylum with a lazy 10 large in my pocket, I would fly to Australia on whatever visa was in the offing, and then apply for asylum once I got here. I certainly wouldn’t risk a voyage in a leaky tub followed by a period of quasi incarceration while immigration tried to determine who I was......unless there was a damned good reason.<br /><br />That’s the rub. If I arrive on a boat from Indonesia, and I’m not Indonesian, it means I have at some stage owned a passport. If I can afford to pay a people smuggler, I can afford an airfare. Why then would I arrive in Australia with no passport having paid several yearly salaries in my home country for the privilege?Richard Sharpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07042576335471857838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post-38623552935821567802010-04-11T21:01:08.049+10:002010-04-11T21:01:08.049+10:00My father-in-law was a refugee. He spent two years...My father-in-law was a refugee. He spent two years in Austria waiting for a place to go. He arrived with no English, no money and only the shoes on his feet and the clothes on his back. Once he had settled and learnt the lingo and started a business, he spent a lot of his free time helping other refugees (he was a mad Mick). <br /><br />However, he got in line, waited his turn, put up with all the bureaucracy and paperwork etc, learned the language and assimilated. I think we should have a generous refugee intake - but it has to be managed.Boy on a bikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14452119541546978454noreply@blogger.com