politicalowl

It's hard to disagree with Donald Trump about one thing: why did Barack Obama ever agree to such a dumb deal over taking over Australia's refugee obligations? There surely was a quid pro quo. It would be interesting to know what it was.

DF wants video to tell refugees to stay away - Drawing inspiration from Australia, the Danish People’s Party wants to launch a video campaign telling asylum seekers that Denmark is not the place for them.  “If you want to seek happiness in Europe, Denmark is not the right place.”  That’s the message that the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) wants to send loud and clear to asylum seekers. DF spokesman Martin Henriksen is calling on Denmark to replicate Australia by releasing a video in English and Arabic that will discourage asylum seekers from making their way to Danish shores. “Too many people are coming to Denmark to seek asylum and we want them to stay away from Denmark. That is the message we wish to formulate to human smugglers and potential asylum seekers around the world,” Henriksen told Politiko. Henriksen pointed to a video made by the Australian government, in which a stone-faced General Campbell tells asylum seekers “you will not make Australia h...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott this morning at one of his  doorstop press conferences : QUESTION: Prime Minister, what’s happening in the Indian Ocean? PRIME MINISTER: What’s happening is that the Government is purposefully and methodically ensuring that our borders are protected and that the boats are stopped. QUESTION: Does the public have a right to know about asylum seekers being intercepted at sea? PRIME MINISTER: The public deserve safe and secure borders. They deserve a country which has not become open for the wrong kind of business – the people smuggling business – and one of the tragedies of the six years prior to September was that the red carpet had been laid out for people smugglers and their customers. Now, we’ve rolled up that particular red carpet. The way is closed. They can keep trying but we will keep responding in an appropriate way, doing exactly what we said we would do before the election and that’s what we’ve been doing. Now I want to make tw...

Monday, 5th February, 2007    - Richard Farmer   The next time a boat load of Papuans arrives off the north Australian coast Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews will have a perfect answer for denying them access. He will just have to apply the definition given this week by an Indonesian official to some 2000 people who have left their homes near the Yamo river and are now facing starvation. According to Yamo district head Philipus Tabuni, as  recent revelation in the Jakarta Post  those fleeing were not classified as refugees, but only as people seeking refuge! At least there has been some change in Indonesia There might be a novel definition of refugee but the press is now more open and frank about discussing the country’s problems. The recent stories in the Jakarta Post clearly suggest that Australia has not heard the last about problems in West Papua. According to the paper, thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on Papuan separatists are now fac...