log man said...[What your advocating there is an "open door policy",where anybody that can make it to Australia can get a job and carry on as a normal citizen. I think you may be a little confused. I don't think any of the major parties in Australia are advocating this policy(maybe the socialist alliance?)
Secondly: You can't just let someone drown if you can save them, you cant let someone die of starvation or thirst and just go "tough luck". That's too horrible to contemplate. That is not an option and I'm a little sickened that someone could suggest it and someone else think its a good idea.
What I advocate is an open policy where there is no government/state intervention. I don't advocate an open door/free ride policy. I advocate an open door/contribution policy.
I also don't advocate people to die of starvation or drowning at sea. I advocate people take responsibility for their actions. If I decided to get on my windsurfer and sail to New Zealand then I'm an idiot and deserve to die out at sea. Similarly if I decided to get on a leaky indo fishing boat and head out into rough seas then why should I expect to be picked up on the way over by an Australian patrol boat? You are sickened by someone saying "tough luck" if they don't make it to Australia safely or die in the desert? Well we should all be sick because its probably happening quite often. Refugees are needlessly dying all over the world.
If people want to help these refugees then more power to them. However they are labelled by the government as people smugglers and criminals. Again I iterate my main point that a huge amount of our money is thrown at this problem. An industry is built up around it fully funded by us. The problem can not solved by sending them to Malaysia. We are all the poorer for it. I'd rather the money be spent on assisting those in Australia that need assistance or not be taken from Australians in the first place.
Events around the world shows government debt matters. The old Keynsean argument that government debt is irrelevant does not hold water. Government needs to look at ways to disengage itself from areas it need to be involved in. Whether this is fighting idiotic wars in the Middle East, wasting money bailing out businesses that are uncompeditive, providing welfare to people and businesses who are quite capable of supporting themselves or funding an illegal immigration industry.