On Tue, 2012-08-14 at 14:08 +1000, luv-talk-request@lists.luv.asn.au wrote:

I am sick of this "boat people drama" going on for 10 years. It is the meanest, nastiest debate I came across so far in a democratic society.

Agree. I think Julia Gillard has realised that most people feel this way and so she is now moving to close the issue down by basically reimplementing the Howard Government's policy, which Labor dismantled on gaining office. Tony Abbott has signalled the opposition will support the needed legislation. One good thing to come out of this is that our refugee quota will be increased, though not as much as I would like. (There are about 10,000,000 refugees around the world so it is not realistic to take them all here in Oz). Tim Josling