Can boat people be turned back?

The issue will then be to decide who is a genuine refugee and send the rest home within seven days. The problem is that people who are refugees divide themselves into three groups. The first are genuine refugees fleeing for their lives. Second are those who are economic refugees. They are living in poor circumstances and seek a better life. Lastly, there are criminals like the Tamil Tigers or the Taliban, etc.

Only Category One can be allowed in. The other two groups must go back quickly to wherever they came from.

How do we tell who are genuine? With the capability of modern technology to give us access to worldwide data, it can be determined quickly. There is no excuse for taking years to make decisions and have our taxpayers meet an enormous cost because the bureaucracy are not up to handling the job.

Then, when we decide who can stay, we must absorb them into Australian society quickly and humanely. We must scrap the current practice of denying them work for six months or more so as deter others from coming - a policy that is absolutely dumb.

If someone is in fear of their life, the fact that they will be unemployed for a long period will not deter them in the slightest. The assimilation of refugees will require mentors from every segment of our society who are willing to be their community partners and offer friendship in dozens of ways that will give them every opportunity to become good Aussies. It is a volunteering task in which I am already involved and enjoying. But, I am appalled at how so many Australians go out of their way to make refugees feel unwelcome.

So, we need a dramatic change of heart from the politics of the situation. Both sides of Parliament vie with one another to be the harshest and most prejudiced as the appeal is made to get the votes of the lowest form of voter - the racists.

It is a sickening sight as it misjudges the vast majority of Australians who are decent people whose instinct is to give others a fair go and pick-up mates who are doing it tough. The Pollies have got it absolutely wrong as usual.

Perhaps their greatest error is the failure to invest heavily in partnerships with the governments of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to reach agreement on pragmatic means of managing the problem at its source, instead of waiting for boats to reach our shores. I hope that Kevin Rudd will pioneer this in his renewed negotiations with Indonesia.

I learned a lot about the basics of the situation by reading a non-fiction book called, "The People Smuggler". Written by Robin de Crespigny, it tells the story of Ali Al Jenabi, who was born and bred in Iraq, imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein in Abu Ghraib, then escaped via Iran. He eventually reached Indonesia where he became a people smuggler, sending boatloads of desperate people to Ashmore Reef and into Australia.

Inevitably, the Indonesian Police closed in on him and he fled to Australia where he was imprisoned for human trafficking. Then, he won his freedom to remain here and start a new life.

De Crespigny gives the impression of being a responsible author who has researched her facts. The basics of the story appear to be legitimate and worthy of serious consideration, showing that there is more to the boat people saga than just to declare it all to be illegal.

The tale of Ali Al Jenabi emboldened me to meet some refugees personally, and I have done this on several occasions in Brisbane. Last month, I attended a meeting at All Hallows College with about 100 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. They seemed to be decent people who felt persecuted by the Sri Lankan Police and Army after the Tamil Tigers lost the Civil War, and they appear to highly value the opportunity to be good Australian citizens. I am sure that some of them are economic refugees who were not under threat other than that of poverty and should not have been let in, but most seemed to be legitimate in their claim of persecution.