Senior Liberals are at odds over taxpayers footing the bill for families attending funeral services for victims of the Christmas Island asylum seeker boat disaster.

As many as 50 people died when the asylum seeker vessel SIEV 221 crashed on rocks and broke apart off the island's Rocky Point on December 15.

Seven Muslim victims were buried at Rookwood Cemetery in western Sydney today.

And a service for the Christian victims of the boat tragedy was held at Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill, this afternoon.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said Australians attending funerals around the country were not entitled to taxpayer-funded transport costs.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/hockey-breaks-ranks-on-boatpeople-funeral-row-20110215-1auk2.html

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Gus: may the dead rest in peace... May the living carry peace in their hearts... May the heartless Liberals wake up to the horror of their position...

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has backed ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries, who tabled a petition calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration.

The petition, signed by three people in Sydney, calls for a review of immigration policy be undertaken to ensure priority is given to Christians.

Senator Humphries says he disagrees with the petition but he tabled it because he believes every citizen has a right to put their views to the Parliament.

Mr Abbott says he also disagrees with the petition, but people have a right to put their views.

"I'm not proposing that, he's not proposing that, no-one is proposing that," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/15/3139678.htm?section=justin

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Gus: the shit-happens demagogue is at it again... with views that show he is unfit to be in politics. He should find employment as a dunny cleaner unless the union thereof rejects him on him being unreliable or for having defaced the clean walls with s%$#t. It happens...

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has admitted he was "insensitive" to question the cost of funerals as families mourned for those lost in the Christmas Island shipwreck tragedy yesterday.

The Opposition had attacked the Federal Government over its decision to fly 22 asylum seekers to Sydney for the funerals of eight people, including two babies, who died in the December shipwreck.

The Muslim and Christian burials were carried out in Sydney yesterday at the request of family members who live in Australia.

This morning, Mr Morrison conceded he had stepped over the line in the timing of his questions about the decision to hold the funerals in Sydney and his comments that relatives should not have been allowed to attend at taxpayers' expense.

"There is a time and a place ... if you step over the mark I think you have got to say so, and I'm prepared to do so," he told 2GB radio.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/16/3140131.htm

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Gus: the only thing that could be a worry is to have incarcerated people being placed into a "free' environment and then flow back to the cage we built for them. At least the memory of caring for loved one can endure...

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has conceded the coalition went too far in criticising the government for paying for Christmas Island shipwreck survivors to attend family funerals.

Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison was blasted for saying it was unreasonable to expect taxpayers to foot the bill for flying 22 family members from Christmas Island to Sydney for Tuesday's funerals.

Mr Morrison today admitted the timing of his comments was "insensitive" but did not back down from their substance.

"I know probably more than anyone how strongly people feel about this issue, how angry they get about the costs that are involved," he told Macquarie Radio.

"I share that anger, and I want to see that changed, but there is a time and a place."

Mr Abbott - who earlier said he believed the government's decision was "unusual" - said Mr Morrison's contrition showed guts.

"I want to thank Scott for being man enough to accept that perhaps we did go a little bit too far yesterday," he said.

Funeral fallout: 'we did go a little bit too far' says Abbott

What?

The creep just got through telling everyone that he didn't resile from his comments: how does that amount to 'contrition'?

Perhaps it does in the nonsense world of dopus dei .....

From the ABC Barrie Cassidy

 

Rare in politics. Politicians Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott have admitted they were insensitive and wrong to make a fuss about the funeral arrangements for the Christmas island boat tragedy victims.

Morrison: "I have to show a little more compassion than I showed yesterday.

"There is a time and place... if you step over the mark you have got to say so, and I'm prepared to do so."

Abbott: "Scott showed a lot of guts in accepting that he may have gone a little too far.

"We will never depart from being humane... we did go a little too far."

Yes they did and they were called on it by the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey. The issue, if not dealt with, had the potential to drive yet another wedge through the party.

Now maybe the Government can reciprocate by admitting they too have been insensitive and more, far more, by immediately after the funeral sending a deeply traumatised 10-year-old orphan on a 5,000 kilometre journey back to Christmas Island.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/16/3140593.htm

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The price of politics: the death of compassion?????

 

Gus: yes Barrie, no Barrie

The lack of compassion eminates mostly for the smelly corner of the little s#%^&t who happens to crap in his rush to oppose anything Labor does... He becomes a devil... Yes, Barrie, Abbott is a little devil who will say anything to grab the demagogue vote and, like all good sociopath, will retreats half-a-pace to allow people to say he is contrite when he is not... He is only sorry because of the backlash, he is not contrite about the terrible attitude he and his mates have had on this issue... My gnome in the garden has more compassion about life than tony has shown here.

 

Senior Liberal Joe Hockey denies there are divisions within the Coalition over Christmas Island shipwreck survivors being flown to Sydney for funerals of family members.

Mr Hockey yesterday supported the Federal Government's decision to fly 22 relatives detained on Christmas Island to the funerals, contradicting the stance of his leader Tony Abbott and the Opposition's immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison.

Mr Morrison today conceded his complaints about the cost to the Government of flying asylum seekers to Sydney were "inappropriate and insensitive".

His comments not only drew Government attacks but sparked a backlash from moderates within the Liberal Party, but Mr Hockey insists the Coalition is united.

"As for so-called ructions [within the party], I've spoken to Scott Morrison today, Tony Abbott today, my mum today... I think there are bigger policy issues at the moment for Australia to face," he told the Queensland Media Club.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/16/3140778.htm

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Gus: the  biggest policy issue facing Orstalya today is that little shit-happens that leads the opposition... The rest is quite mild compared to that...

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the nine-year-old boy orphaned in the Christmas Island shipwreck will be released from detention next week and will be able to live in a house in Sydney.

The boy, Seena, was flown to Sydney for his relatives' funerals on Tuesday, but is being returned to Christmas Island despite many public calls from him to stay in NSW with his extended family.

Mr Bowen says the boy and the relatives who had been caring for him on Christmas Island will be released together next week.

The Minister told Channel Ten that he hoped to finalise the paperwork today.

"He and family who've been looking after him on Christmas Island can be released into the community, as I've been working on for several days," Mr Bowen said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/17/3141827.htm