As we hear often from our Australian readers, Australia is having the same problems as the US and other first world countries—illegal aliens are attempting to get into our countries by whatever means they can.   Julia Gilliard, the new Prime Minister of Australia, says she wants to find a long-lasting solution to one of the hottest issues facing western nations—-immigration.  Good luck with that.

From ABC News:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott both announced new policies on border protection today as the asylum seeker debate took centre stage in pre-election political manoeuvres.

Taking aim at what she called the Opposition’s “rhetoric” and “hollow slogans” on turning asylum seekers back at sea, Ms Gillard announced that the Government was negotiating with East Timor on setting up a “regional processing centre” to handle new boat arrivals before they arrived in Australia.

She said she had held talks with the United Nations as well as East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta and New Zealand’s prime minister John Key on setting up the centre and asked for the “patience and support” of the Australian people.

“The purpose [of the new centre] would be to ensure that people smugglers have no product to sell,” she said.

“A boat ride to Australia would just be a ticket back to the regional processing centre … to ensure that everyone is subject to a consistent, fair assessment process.

New UN Report says there is no need for Tamils to seek asylum!

How about telling that to the US State Department and their contractor the International Rescue Committee—we don’t need to resettle Tamils in Oakland (or anywhere else!).

Ms Gillard said the Government was lifting the suspension on processing claims for Sri Lankans after the release of a new UN report overnight, clearing the way for all Sri Lankan asylum claims to be processed as far as possible.

The report, from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, described “greatly improved” security in Sri Lanka, and said it should not be presumed that Tamils need asylum.

“I have a message for people in Sri Lanka who might be considering the journey to Australia,” Ms Gillard said.

“Do not pay a people smuggler, do not risk your life only to arrive in Australian waters to find that you are far, far more likely than anything else to be quickly sent home by plane.”

See also this article about Gilliard and immigration.

They are coming on boats from everywhere trying to get into Australia, just as our Southern Border is being overrun by mostly economic migrants including Middle Easterners with possibly other motives, making illegal immigration a critical issue for new Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.   Indeed the nearly two-month-long messy stand-off with the Sri Lankan Tamils may have diminished the voter’s view of Rudd’s effectiveness.*

From ABC News (Australia):

The issue of border protection is looming as a major challenge for new Prime Minister Julia Gillard as she approaches the election.

The arrival of boatloads of asylum seekers off Australia’s north-west coast has hurt Labor in the opinion polls, and the problem that eroded Kevin Rudd’s popularity in marginal seats is now Ms Gillard’s to deal with.

Ms Gillard says she will not “lurch to the right” but she does understand the fears Australians have about illegal arrivals.

“I do understand the anxiety and indeed fears that Australians have when they see boats intercepted,” she told the 7.30 Report.

“It does make people anxious. I can understand that, I really can.”

* Incidentally, remember those Australian asylum-seeking Tamil “bachelors” we resettled in Oakland, CA (here five days ago).  They are a prime example of how refugee/asylum decisions are made that have nothing to do with the legitimacy of the aliens’ case and everything to do with them being pawns in a larger political game.  It is clear to me that we took the Tamil’s to help Australia out of its political predicament.