[Cooling]

I suspect that it is not the rationale for dettering or preventing the asylum seekers, but rather the result of that policy that people find so lamentable.

Illegal immigration is a problem in many western countries, yet they do not see it necessary to respond to this issue by locking these people up in detention centres on Nauru.

To that, you might respond that Australia's situation is unique, in both its coastal proximity to Indonesia, and the sheer logistical difficulty of patroling one of the longest uninhabited coastal areas anywhere in the world. Drastic measures and means are called for in order to stem the unrelenting tide of illegal immigrants; among whom might be Terrorists hell bent on destroying the Australian way of life.

To me that smacks of a good deal of media hysteria and political rhetoric. Concerns which could equally be leveled against those who oppose the policy. We could run around in circles, I simply prefer to disagree with the end result of locking people up on offshore detention centres for an indefinite period simply because they had the teremity to (as you say) 'jump the que'.