The Australian government should allow asylum seekers to fly into Australia at one-tenth of the cost of coming on people smugglers' boats, says billionaire Clive Palmer.

Mr Palmer says the federal government's position on not issuing visas to asylum seekers fleeing Indonesia fuelled the people-smuggling trade.

The mining tycoon said the government should allow asylum seekers to pay their own plane fare into Australia.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/let-asylum-seekers-fly-in-says-palmer-20120630-2193f.html#ixzz1zFaHawjw

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The Liberals are accusing Julia's Policies for the increase of Boats... RUBBISH!!! Julia's firm policy is not ennacted as she wants the "Malaysian solution" which would really stop the boats... But the Liberal mongrels and the green pumpkins don't want her to have it...
Yet another of the greens shooting themselves in the foot like when they conspired with the Liberals to sink the ETS... to eventually get a watered down Carbon Tax that Julia was good enough to take the flak for it... The broth from the green zucchinis is getting thinner...

 

 

MOSTLY it's the opposition that has been in the frame for stymieing efforts to get a more effective policy to combat people smuggling. The government has, for obvious reasons, been anxious to keep the pressure on its big target. But in the numbers game the Greens are just as crucial, as well as equally intransigent, as the Coalition. And in recent days they have been feeling more heat.

What's happened with the asylum seeker policy has some, though not exact, parallels with the saga over the emissions trading scheme under Kevin Rudd's government. Rudd looked to the Coalition as a negotiating partner because the Greens were seen as hardliners. In that period, the Greens could not deliver the Senate by themselves, and the other crossbenchers were stumbling blocks.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/greens-are-as-stubborn-as-abbott-20120630-219b2.html#ixzz1zKwFMQ8d

from Crikey …..

More ADF concerns about "turning back the boats".

A long-serving former naval officer has contacted Crikey to raise concerns that the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum-seeker boats at sea may amount to an "illegal order" and could be contrary to international law.

Crikey's contact, who does not wish to be named, says he applauds recent comments by retired Defence Force chief Chris Barrie raising doubts about the Coalition's policy. Our source says when he was in the Navy, "we had drilled into us the responsibilities of the International Law of the Sea":

"In my day comments such as Abbott's about turning back the boats would have been contrary to all the provisions of the Law of the Sea and would have caused major morale problems within the Navy.

Also, contrary to his comment that the services are answerable to the government there is such a thing as an illegal order. Such an order should not or must not be obeyed.

An obvious situation is where a senior person in the military orders a junior to kill some non-combatant who is captive and no threat. Similarly I can envisage a situation under an Abbott government where a captain of a Navy ship could deem an order to be illegal and not carry it out."

The former naval officer has suggested the intersection of international law with the Coalition's policy should be considered by experts in the field. Is this your area? Get in touch.

Five Indonesian military officers have been arrested as they helped 45 asylum seekers make their way to a boat headed for Christmas Island.

The men, who were in the uniform of the Indonesian army, TNI, but unarmed, were guiding a convoy of cars and mini-buses towards the south-eastern coast of Java - a popular embarkation point for Australia.

meanwhile …..

Australia's overseas espionage service is fighting a secret war on people-smuggling, sending small teams of officers into some of the most dangerous parts of Pakistan to work with local authorities and smash the trafficking rings.

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service is also playing a direct role in counter-terrorism operations overseas, a dramatic and significant evolution of its established role as an intelligence-gatherer.

A new report commissioned by the Australian government on how best to deal with asylum seekers is recommending that the state take in more refugees by official means in order to deter illegal entries.

An expert panel headed by former defence chief Angus Houston said on Monday that Canberra should introduce greater disincentives to stop would-be refugees from paying people-smugglers to bring them by boat to Australia.

Houston's panel also recommended that Australia increase its humanitarian intake from some 13,000 to about 20,000 places a year, and up to 27,000 within five years. This is to help deter boat people from risking their lives at sea, his report said.

Australian authorities have intercepted three boats carrying 178 asylum seekers in just the last two days. The interceptions take the number of asylum seekers picked up this month to 650.

The much-awaited independent report also said Australia should transfer asylum-seekers offshore to places such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea as part of a "comprehensive regional network".

It called on Canberra to work closely with Indonesia, a transit country for many boat people, and Malaysia to stem the influx of maritime arrivals as well as lift its annual humanitarian intake.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/08/20128135818383819.html

 

The Australian Navy would be charged with repelling Sri Lankan asylum seeker boats outside Australia's international borders under a Coalition government.
Shadow immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said a Coalition government would turn all Sri Lankan boats around, without exception.Mr Morrison and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop were speaking about their recent trip to Sri Lanka, which they said showed the country was returning to safety after the civil war.

He said the pair had been told the greatest threat to Sri Lankans' lives was getting on a boat rather than staying in the country, and the primary motivation for those coming to Australia was ''economic and lifestyle''.

Their comments come in the wake of a UNHCR report slamming conditions for asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and urging the new Immigration Minister, Brendan O'Connor, to stop sending people to the centre until the report's recommendations are implemented.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/navy-would-have-role-in-turning-asylum-boats-around-morrison-20130204-2dtkd.html#ixzz2JtvzOeUq

Anything of the sort mentioned by the coalition Scott Morrison (and his accomplice Julie Bishop) amounts TO (is) PIRACY... I don't think any respectable admiral or seamen and seawomen in the Australian navy would like to see themselves called before the United Nations courts for PIRACY.

THUS THIS POLICY IS BUMKUN  from the start... IT IS IDIOTIC POPULISM at its worse...