Thankyou for your comments on Asylum Seekers and Sen. Vanstone’s interview with Andrew Denton. Given that Australia has arrested the flow of those seeking asylum through the imposition of mandatory detention and the crack down on people smugglers is there any support for what some would call genuine asylum seekers? Here is a hypothetical:

A group of 50 Christians living in an Islamic state each raise $1000 and buy a leaky fishing boat in Asia and sail to Australia. When they arrive in Australia’s non-migratory zone they claim persecution for their faith They have been made aware that Australia is a Christian country after reading a copy of Peter Costell’s address to the National Day of Thanksgiving and they desire to escape, for themslelves and for the sake of their children, a system that demands allegiance to a religion other than their own. They are a large family group, including men women and children, and five of the adult members have been imprisioned for breaking Islamic law.

To get Australia they did not use a people smuggler, they followed the UN Charter on Seeking International Asylum (one of the members being a lawyer)

and they brought with them limited documentation to establish their credentials.

So my questions are: 1. Are they queue jumpers? 2. Should they be sent back because they have violated Australia’s immigration zone? 3. Should they be placed in mandatory detention outside of Australia for one, two or three years? 4. Does this encourage others to put their children at risk by crossing dangerous international waters?

The tone of my questions probably gives away my answers and hypotheticals can contain more cloud than light, but I wonder if after the long political debate we’ve had in Australia whether or not we still have a place in our country for the asylum seeker.

Blessings