An Aussie's reaction

A very good Aussie friend provided this thoughtful reflection on the asylum-seeker post:

"Gordon, there's a lot more to this story than appears on the surface. The previous Govt did introduce the things you're talking about, for very different reasons than are stated I might add, but they are also the ones who built the platform of fear from which the average Australian sees these refugees. Before that, they were rescued if necessary but otherwise brought straight to the mainland onto Australian soil. The fear took care of that as an option and this bastard policy was introduced to keep them offshore. A friend of mine worked for years in health issues in the relocation centres and others worked on education, aid, relocation and on the military side - rescue and return. The politics and wrongheadedness of the situation is a lot more complex than it appears to be. No matter what they do it's a no-win. But there are other Govts and aid and refugee organisations that also need to come in for a share of the blame - not that any of that helps the poor buggers on the boats."