62 children in detention in Australia "And now we've had another look at that and decided we can make further changes," Amanda Vansoft said yesterday. "So this is just another change in a series of changes, because now the boats have stopped coming, we're looking at a residual case load, our economy is strong and we think we can ... look at what we can do to soften the individual impact of this policy." The Immigration Minister pointed to a change to the Removal Pending Bridging Visa as one of a series of moves aimed at softening the impact of mandatory detention. The visa was introduced in March, with the intention of giving detainees with no immediate prospect of being booted out the chance to live and work in the community. In the following breath the Close Ties Visa (for people under 18 at the time of entering Australia) will be abolished from July one ... Gus is confused... Are we going to have a Compassionate Detention Visa or a Protection Incaceration Visa or a Quick Exit Visa... The list of weird Visas seems to be endless...,

Refugees or Illegal immigrants?

I think the press has a lot to answer about this question.

The press calls them them 'Refugees', I call them 'Illegal Immigrants', and there is a HUGE difference!

Maybe if the press would get their terms of reference right, we would not have this discussion within the Australian community.

I am an immigrant myself, stood inline for months to come to the country I loved from when I was a child. I have NO sympathy for people trying to jump the queue ... cos the REAL refugees, who would deserve to be called that, are still over there in their countries just for the simple reason that THEY don't have the money to come here (by whatever means) and claim they are Refugees!

People in detention centres here are nothing but Illegal Immigrants to me, UNTIL they are granted  Refugee Status!

Sorry for the Children :( ... but it's the Parents who put them into this situation. THEY should look at themselves, and don't blame Australians.

An YES, I hate John Howard and the majority of his government. They have betrayed the Australian people, sold us out, made us pawns in a game of chess, when we could have been Kings - but I also can see that in this case they should have been even tougher (so should any other elected Government of my Country).

  

Hi Wolf.  Such warmth and social conscience! 

Wolf a rose by any other name would smell the same!  You can call them "illegal asylum seeking refugee immigrants" if you wish.  Or any other derisive term you can think up.

I choose to think of them as fellow humans who have reached out to us here in the "lucky country" and asked for help. 

This country is big enough for us all.  My relatives were refugees - convicts they where called. My husband's relatives were also refugees - Europeans they are called. I am 5th generation Australian, and I say welcome to them all.

I Heard a gentleman on the insiders say this morning  that we are still the only country that puts people in detention for doing nothing except wanting to have a better life. O what good citizens they would make and  enrich the country. Like the  Greeks the Italians that bring their culture, and the list goes on.

Think of the big picture - more people, more jobs, more service industries needed etc, and of course in some countries, THERE ARE NO QUEUES.

Does this mean those people could never come.  Now how silly would that be? Let's return to the days before 1992 when detention was not  heard of and people were looked after in hostels and gradually helped in to society. Yes for those who did not know, that's what we did and the sky did not fall in.

Where have all these heny pennies come from and why?