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Monday February 13, 2012

What we're talking about

  • Troy on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I have seen this family fighting day after day for months trying to get their kids/siblings back home. The dedication and ... more
  • Pauline on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS have destroyed my own family. They failed in their duty of care to provide a baby moniter for the deaf , thousands of ... more
  • Christine on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' isn't it funny how DHS don't recognise the psychological effects of domestic violence on children and continue to allow ... more
  • Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' There is a family In the Cairns Area who are Foster Carers.Atherton Child Safety have threatened the carers and own ... more
  • duncan on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i have spent time with this family. it is a house full of love. "mum", grandfather and older sblings.this cannot be an issue ... more
  • Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Family Law is different from the rest of the law in this country.. Ie. Family Law is based on probability: ie if it might ... more
  • carol annetta on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' having known this family for some time i am disgusted with the treatment she has received. it seems more of a witch hunt ... more
  • Maureen Hillary on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn,I have counselled traumatized parents as a result of DHS staff.There are great staff workers who care but they ... more
  • Janet Tavener on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I am a visitor to this country.My attention was drawn to the case of these children and their foster mother by a relative of ... more
  • sam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Happening in Tasmania also.Wewon a court case over 8 months ago and due process still hasn't been done.We spent 17,000 ... more
  • Anne Glover on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I just cannot believe what the DHS has put the Foster Mother, and the children through - I thought the DHS was supposed to ... more
  • Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS are the most disgraceful organization I have ever had the displeasure of becoming involved with. They are so ... more
  • Vicki on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn,I have known this carer since primary school, she has always put others above herself. Being a carer myself I know ... more
  • Gran'ma Pam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' As any of us with any sense know, these children should NEVER have been taken from this lady (mum) in the first place, they ... more
  • Dominic Lombardo on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I see my daughter every six months DHS are conducting a vendetta against me I have not been told why I can only see her ... more
  • cassy houghton on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hello Derryn,Firstly i would like to thankyou for your support and the willingness to help this beautiful family.I ... more
  • Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Im a carer also in Qld. I see this happen way too much from our Government. They are starting to use Carers own children as ... more
  • paul on "I'll pay the fee," says Hinch I believe what Liberal Party has done is stupid. But I feel for candidates like Joh Bauch and James Buonopane who want to ... more
  • Andrea on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Why are these public servants allowed to blatantly flout the law without the same consequences the rest of society faces? I ... more
  • birth mother on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i am the birth morther of these 4 children and i just want to say dhs dont care they just want the kids in care so they can ... more

Rudd has no 'boat people' policy?

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 17 March, 2010 - 5:46 PM
Boat People

I was watching a SKY news presenter this week talking about the boat people. And he said, straight-faced, as we've heard so many times before: A government spokesman said 'the government is closely monitoring the situation'.

What does that mean? Monitoring the situation? Are they just counting the numbers?  Is somebody sitting on the end of the pier at Christmas Island with a clicker going 'boat number  19, boat number 20, boat number 21'?

Before the last election Kevin Rudd said he had a plan to stop the flood of asylum seekers. He said: "You'd turn em back."

He was well aware of the feeling in the community that Australia was considered an easy target and that a lot of people actually supported John Howard's Pacific Solution which saw the boat traffic dwindle from 86 boats in 1999 to zero in 2007.

Once in office the Rudd government  softened the entry rules. No more automatic detention of boat people. And the  word went forth to the boat smugglers and if you had $15,000 you were on your way.

Sixty-one boats arrived last year. Last week the 21st boat arrived for 2010 and the year is less than three months old.

Rudd said, in election mode 'Turn 'em back'. But, as Andrew Bolt points out in his column today: how many of the 85 boats arriving since January last year were sent packing? None. Well, one. Those people picked up by the Oceanic Viking who held this country to ransom for weeks and despite all the tough talk were finally let in.

He can spin all he likes but the PM's boat people policy is no policy. And the boats keep a comin'.

Blog comments Your Say

  • Surely one reason we are receiving so many migrants is because their own countries are over populated.
    Well I'm tired of looking at Melbourne and seeing a foreign country. Our ancestors and all they fought for are being disgraced. The more migrants we receive the harder it becomes for Australian families and the less inclined we are to have our own children when we have to compete in our own country with migrants.

    James Sunday 4 April, 2010 - 3:45 PM

  • I am not sure if Rudd has a Boat? It seems full of holes...

    Ben Saturday 27 March, 2010 - 8:49 PM

  • Kevin is a no good on people smuggling. We don't have enough housing, health services or water and he keeps flying them in from Christmas Island, after welcoming them from Gawd'sknows where, bending to blackmail by these que jumpers, to make it worse for Australian's.

    Jackie Friday 26 March, 2010 - 5:21 PM

  • There are so many incorrect statements being made here. How many of the people arriving under Howard's Pacific Solution ended up in Australia - most of them! People on boats are still being detained and they are not being sent packing becasue they are assessed to be genuine refugees - the same as the past government which didn't send back refugees, they just punished them in exile for a few years before they came here. We have legal obligations not to send back genuine refugees and most of the people arriving at the moment are genuine. What is the Oppositions's policy - all we have heard lately is about floating oil rig accommodation? Contrary to what is being said here, most Australians'don't want people who have been tortured and traumatised to be forced back at sea at gunpoint. To Jay I would say stop demonising men! Many of the men coming on boats are extremely vulnerable, with wives and children back in difficult situations. Under the Howard Government more women and children got on boats becasue of the temporary visas and 353 mostly women and children drowned on their way to Australia. You will be happy to know that if more people drown it will be mostly men these days. Get some facts people and concentrate on some things that are really a problem

    Wanda Thursday 25 March, 2010 - 4:35 PM

  • Does anyone know what proportion of Asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island are men?
    I'd speculate that it'd be in the region of 90% if not more going on what information dribbles out to the media.
    Of those,what proportion would be single men?
    We legally re settle refugee families from all over the world and that seems to work out OK most of the time.
    However when large groups of single Men appear,as with the Indian Students and Sudanese boys then trouble inevitably follows.
    It's a fact that even a small number of excess males causes a spike in crime and unrest.
    As I've said before all the "trouble", the gang fights, territoriality and so called "Racial" attacks have historically been over one basic human Male need.
    Access to Women.
    More single Men means a less stable and drastically more violent society.
    We can't absorb the hundreds of millions of surplus Men from the Majority world, caused I might by their own Gender Prejudices.
    We'll destroy our own societies if we try but before that we'll wipe out any of the current goodwill felt by White Australians toward the Majority World.
    Protectionism seems to be everyone's greatest fear.

    Jay Thursday 25 March, 2010 - 10:52 AM

  • Enjoy your final months as PM Kevin Rudd! Australians will NOT put up with your soft stance on asylum seekers.

    john Thursday 18 March, 2010 - 11:59 AM

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