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Turn the boats back - Can the EU learn from Australia?

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  1. #1

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    Turn the boats back - Can the EU learn from Australia?

    Tony Abbott was elected on a pledge to stem the tide of asylum seekers by adopting a hardline of turning boats back to where they came from. This approach was aimed at deterring potential economic migrants who know if picked-up they would get sent back. The number of boats trying to slip into Australia has dropped as has the number of people who die while trying.

    Should the EU adopt a similar hardline approach for economic migrants from Africa?


  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by East_coast:
    Tony Abbott was elected on a pledge to stem the tide of asylum seekers by adopting a hardline of turning boats back to where they came from. This approach was aimed at deterring potential economic migrants who know if picked-up they would get sent back. The number of boats trying to slip into Australia has dropped as has the number of people who die while trying.

    Should the EU adopt a similar hardline approach for economic migrants from Africa?
    The number of people who died while trying may have gone down...but do we have any sort of stats that would show thay the ones who stayed actually lived and didnt die of starvation etc etc..

    I think the countries where they come from should provide them with life opportunities. That should be the priority...of course it ain't gonna happen anytime soon....

  3. #3

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    How many of the people crossing the Mediterranean are from the Middle East rather than Africa? Are there more political rather than economic reasons for them fleeing countries like Syria and Iraq? Would people still risk crossing the sea in small fishing boats rather than stay in countries where terror attacks are a daily occurrence? And Mare Nostrum has already been discontinued but the numbers are increasing.

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  4. #4

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    Its not necessarily solely a decision which Italy can make alone. Its also a EU decision and Italy doesn't have as much freedom to do as they please.

    So unlike Australia, there is also a EU angle to all this, and Italy may only be one player (albeit a very big player) in the illegal migration problem.

    Last edited by Cho-man; 20-04-2015 at 09:11 PM.

  5. #5

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    Wish there was a simple answer to this but I keep arguing with myself as to the best course of action!


  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    Wish there was a simple answer to this but I keep arguing with myself as to the best course of action!
    Don't think there is any single "best course of action" here. Its complicated and messy affair. And probably won't be resolved soon.
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  7. #7

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    Abbott's position is pure racism. He ran a campaign about fear of brown people on boats storming Australia's shores, making claims about economic migration and terrorism. Now he basically completely broke Australia's commitment to accept asylum seekers into the country and stuffs all of them into concentration camps where children are subjected to disease, and physical and sexual abuse.

    The stats paint a completely different picture to his claims, showing that there are and were a tiny number of asylum seekers coming in on boats and that the vast majority, after finally being assessed, turn out to be legitimate asylum seekers.

    The entire issue with "boat people" was that they were taking too long to process and hence the government was letting them out into the community without proper assessment. So the solution should have been an administrative, process improvement and staffing one. Instead Australia just chucks them in a cage and pretends they don't exist.

    So no, the world should not look to Australia for a solution to illegal immigration.

    Last edited by methosb; 21-04-2015 at 09:52 AM.
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