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sink abbott-the-idiot...
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a Coalition government would give Royal Australian Navy commanders the discretion to turn back boats carrying asylum seekers.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has derided the Opposition's promises to "turn the boats back", saying the boats would be scuttled and Navy and Customs personnel would end up having to risk their own lives to save asylum seekers from the water.
But Mr Abbott says Navy commanders who intercept boats need to assess the situation and be given the powers to turn the boats around when it is safe to do so.
"If we have suitable arrangements with other countries and if it is the judgement of the personnel on the spot that they can do it safely, well then they should be able to do it," he said.
"It's not something that should be ruled out by Federal Government policy."
The Coalition would increase the number of places for asylum seekers who apply from offshore under its new policy and has proposed a scheme for community groups to privately sponsor refugees.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/08/2948179.htm?section=justin
- By Gus Leonisky at 8 Jul 2010 - 5:59pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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of redneck central...
How stupid does Julia Gillard think "redneck central'' is? She can't honestly believe voters in marginal electorates will fall for her election-eve volte-face on asylum seekers, unveiled in a speech this week to the Lowy Institute.
She can't honestly believe they will be grateful for her patronising defence of them as not being the racist, bigoted "rednecks" refugee advocates such as Julian Burnside say they are. Especially while she bent over backwards to praise him as: ''Prominent Australian, Julian Burnside, QC, an eminent lawyer, much respected in our community.''
Everyone knows that it was the Labor policies crafted by Julia Gillard, when she was shadow immigration minister, that turned a trickle of about three unauthorised boat arrivals a year into an escalating three boats a week, leading to more than 150 drowning deaths of asylum seekers along the way, and almost 600 children currently in detention.
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Ahhhh, of course, all the troubles brought out by refugees during the Howard years were due to Gillard's callous disregard to sinking the ships! piece of cake! Brilliant Miranda! Go back into your box Miranda! Your red-neckery is a tribute to the Shoot-on-sight party...
location, location, location....
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has backed away from naming East Timor as her preferred place for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers.
Ms Gillard announced this week she wanted to build a regional centre to process asylum seekers and that she had discussed it with East Timor's president, Jose Ramos-Horta.
The revelation has created controversy in East Timor, with some government MPs arguing against the proposal.
On Fairfax radio today Ms Gillard was repeatedly asked exactly where she wanted the centre located, but she did not name East Timor.
She suggested that the idea that she was fixed on East Timor for the refugee processing centre was a misquotation or misunderstanding of what she actually said.
Ms Gillard said the location of the centre will only emerge from talks with regional neighbours.
"I'm not going to leave undisturbed the impression that I made an announcement about a specific location," she said.