….”the boats will keep coming!”
Australia is in the same situation as the United States with illegal immigrants attempting to reach the country — the issue of how to deal with the onslaught has become one of the major battles between political parties.
Further inflaming the political debate, here is the news of the most recent deaths of perhaps as many as 200 illegals smuggled onto an unsafe vessel which subsequently sank drowning men, women and children off the coast of Java two days ago.
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
MORE than 200 asylum seekers are feared to have died after their boat sank off Java, victims of increasingly brazen syndicates that are funnelling people through Jakarta airport before packing them onto unsafe boats bound for Australia.
Just over a year after a disaster off Christmas Island in which 50 people died, a boat carrying about 250 asylum seekers sank off Prigi beach in eastern Java on Saturday.
There were conflicting reports last night about how many people survived. Indonesian officials said there were only 34 – contradicting Australia’s new Home Affairs Minister, Jason Clare, who said 87 asylum seekers had been rescued.
[….]
Survivors said about 40 of the 250 people on board were children. The boat had a normal capacity of about 100, according to Kelik Enggar Purwanto, of the local search and rescue team. It was unlikely any more survivors would be found, he said.
[….]
Many of the asylum seekers had flown from Dubai to Jakarta, where Indonesian officials are said to have charged them $500 each to pass through the airport without visas. They were then taken in four buses to an unknown location on the south coast of Java. [Looks like its Indonesia that needs to be brought under control here—ed]
The case highlights the increased confidence of people-smuggling networks and the huge demand for their services. In recent months, the regularity of vessels attempting to cross to Australia has increased, as has the size of their human cargo.
Meanwhile the issue of immigration continues to be a thorn in the side of the present Gillard government. Conservatives led by Tony Abbott (who this author predicts will defeat Gillard in the next election) want to make it less “welcoming” for asylum seekers when they arrive in Australia by holding them in detention as a deterrent. (Australian readers, am I getting this right?—ed)
Below is an excerpt from an opinion piece in which the author, Dilan Thampapillai , says no matter who is prime minister the boats will continue to come. Read his whole thesis here.
No matter what Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Chris Bowen say or do, no matter which foot Cory Bernardi decides to place in his mouth, Tony Abbott will still win the next election. And the boats will keep coming.
It would take something spectacular, well beyond Keating’s ‘true believer’s’ election win in 1993, for Julia Gillard to defeat Tony Abbott. Even if that miracle did happen the boats would still keep coming.
Yet, a lot of our political rhetoric and policy action centers on stopping boats. As a proposed solution to a serious problem it is an exercise in denial.
As immigration and how to stop the flow of illegals has become a critical issue in the 2012 Presidential election in the US, so too is it apparently an animating issue in Australia.