Adventure Ausrama Blog

People want to come to Australia. They get on a leaky old boat, paying their life savings to the traffickers, thinking they will soon be in the promised land. However, if they did not leave as genuine refugees they will be on the boat back home. Only a few days ago those who were not refugees were forcibly removed. A riot recently broke out between Afghans and Sri Lankans when the Afghans said the Sri L ankans didn't have a chance of getting residency. The truth is the war is over in Sri Lanka and two boats have just been stopped by Sri lankan Government vessels. Why do they want to live here? Well, social services and health now employ more people than retail. The mining industry is booming. People in developing countries hear that life is easy in Australia and the state looks after you. But do they know that coastal cities are short of houses and water runs out, often. Electricity is rapidly increasing in price. Council rates are rising faster than the rate of inflation

How could the experts get it so wrong. For many years we were told that Australia should populate or perish. The Bureau of Statistics has released data showing that 296,00 births occurred in 2008. This is 10,000 more that 2007 and 1971, earlier record years. The fertility rate for women is high at 1.97 babies for every female. Tasmanians are really getting on with it (must be the cold climate) with a fertility rate of 2.24. Hot Darwin had a lower rate of 1.76. Not only are women having more babies, but the proportion of women in the population is rising. And the reason for this increase is financial. The Government pays $5,000 to a woman to have a baby. Women are getting pregnant in some cases just to get the money. If they want a big ticket item they see this as the way to get it, irrespective of the lifetime cost of bringing up a child. Another thing is that women who have put off having babies are now reaching the point of no return where they must act or never have children. http:

There is an answer to the refugee problem. A the moment the Australian Federal Government is in talks with the Sri Lankan Government. Hopefully, some bright spark will have the courage to stand up and say it: Australian ships should take them back home and let them apply for refugee status through the usual means, if the country of origin agrees. And indeed there should be pressure to make them agree. There is a long queue to attain citizenship status. Boat people should be patient. In countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps people fear going home, but these countries should take them back and give them protection. This may be simplistic. Nonetheless, it is the only answer when people are leaving to gain a better life and not running from oppression. The Tamils are clearly not running from oppression. The war is over. They should not be allowed to demand Australian citizenship and win. If they do win, we can expect all boat people from now on to refuse to get off ships taken to