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Originally Posted by notsure
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Perhaps the point was not made clear; Australia's Immigration policy is
effective at detering people to make the rather long and quite hazardous journey with notorius ruffians (ie, people smugglers) in questionable craft to Australia. The less people try, the more time Customs and the Navy can spend trying to catch those massive poaching operations going on in the North. For some reason, Australia and Australians seem always to be portrayed as racists or people who dont care about freedoms or liberty people but i would put to you that this is far from the case.
Clearly, the issue is one of
fairness - Whilst i wont say
all Australians, i will say that
many Australians see these "asylum seekers" who arrive in Australia via boats as
que jumpers - these people take the place of those who apply to Australia's somewhat generous foreign immigration programme
legitimately; people who take the time to bring their documents, to plan ahead and be co-operative, people who are willing to start a new life in Australia and do the other things
without breaking laws or being antagonistic or whatever. I dont see why these "asylum seekers" cant apply through these programmes just like everyone else as if their claims were legitimate, then they'd have
absolutely no problems receiving that asylum. As such, there is the
perception that these boat people are predisposed to be
less legitimate than proper applicants, and thus when they are taking the place of others who are less dogey then they are, it smacks of
inequality.
Now, this is my own opinion on the issue plus the feelings and sentiments of those with whom i talk on this issue (granted, it has been some time now as the issue isnt as pressing as it was in say, 1999) however i must acknowledge that i'm a bit right of centre in the political spectrum, however i still maintain that the policy
results in more 'fairness' if not exactly 'justice' (and i use that latter term very loosely).