I really was hoping this would just die because I didn't want to get into a thing here.
Regardless of you prejudices, experiences and opinions it is patently incorrect to call them "Illegals".
They are doing nothing illegal.
The Refugee Convention, which Australia is a signatory to, makes its possible for an individual to enter a country unauthorized, with or without documentation, for the purposes of seeking asylum. Australian Law permits people to enter unauthorized for the purposes of seeking asylum.
Calling them "Illegals" was a directive from Scott Morrison to push a policy that contravenes our obligations as a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees. (
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...at-people-called-illegals-20131019-2vtl0.html)
Australia has more "Illegals" in tourists and students that outstay their Visas.
Why do they do it? To put it into perspective, there are 2 million people fleeing the conflict in Syria, however only 10,000 people have been accepted as refugees from Western Nations. The conflicts in Afghanistan have displaced 2.7 million people.
With the way this is portrayed you'd think we were constantly inundated by refugees. It’s not the case. Australia receives 3% of asylum claims among developed nations. More arrive by plane (13 per day) than by boat. The UK has a much greater number of refugees looking to be resettled than we do, despite their smaller landmass and high population density.
As for the idea that being a developed nation makes us a greater target, UN figures show that is no true, as undeveloped nations house far greater numbers of refugees than developed nations.
Australia being "girt by sea" is our greatest defence from being targeted by refugees. Imagine how nuts people would be about this topic if we were a landlocked European country!?
As for their asylum claims, in both 2010-11 and 2011-12 both sides of government showed that over 90% of claims were legitimate. Even during the Howard years, 85% of claims were legitimate.
As for dealing with immigrants and refugees, I can only go on my own experiences. One of my best friends in primary school was from a family of Tamil refugees. Cairns probably has more problems with people defacing the mosque than we do with Muslims pushing some apparent Islamic agenda. But then the Muslim community in this region has been here for nearly 100 years. For every Muslim crime reported in the news (the recent guy that had married a 13 year old) there's the same crime committed ten times over by white Australians (the current royal commission into child sex offences amongst the catholic church and salvation army).
The "Australian Way" survived 55,000 Vietnamese refugees, it will survive the substantially smaller amount of boatpeople currently in waiting.
And yes, there are many domestic issues I'd rather the government be putting more time, money and effort into.