People Smuggling: Rudd Government's new No Visa No Settlement policy versus Coalition's Turn Back The Boats policy

Each Australian voter will have to make up their own minds which irregular arrival asylum seeker policy to vote for - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's turning back the boats on the high seas or Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's immediate transfer to and resettlement in Papua New Guinea.

Adelaide Advertiser 20 July 2013

Dept. of Immigration and Citizenship 20 July 2013:

If you come here by boat without a visa you won't be settled in Australia.

Australia's migration policy has changed. From 19 July 2013 if you travel to Australia by boat with no visa, you will not be settled here. You will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing. If found to be a refugee, you'll be settled in Papua New Guinea, or another participating regional state, not Australia. This includes women and children. These changes have been introduced to stop people smugglers and stop further loss of life at sea.

If you are not found to be in need of protection, you will stay in Papua New Guinea until you can be sent to your home country.

There will be no cap on the number of people who can be transferred or resettled in Papua New Guinea.

Don't risk your family's safety. Don't waste your money.

Don't risk your life or waste your time or money by paying people smugglers. If you pay a people smuggler you are buying a ticket to another country.

Arriving in Australia by boat means:

• being sent straight to Papua New Guinea for processing
• being settled in Papua New Guinea, not Australia, even if you are found to be a refugee
• not being reunited with family and friends in Australia.

You can still come to Australia through regular migration. Find the right pathway for you and your family.

Fact sheet

     Regional Settlement Arrangement ( 284KB PDF file)

     Regional Settlement Arrangement ( 3MB Word file)

Media release

     Australia and Papua New Guinea regional settlement arrangement

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News.com.au 20 July 2013:

The national campaign will be followed by advertisements overseas.

Liberal-National Coalition asylum seeker policy

2010:

We'll stand up for Australia. We'll stand up for real action. We'll end the waste, repay the debt, stop the new taxes and stop the boats.

2011:

What we've said though is that it should be an option to turn the boats around where it's safe to do so…..Now, the Navy's done it before, it can do it again.

2012:

Tony Abbott has decided that a Coalition government will instruct the navy to turn around asylum-seeker boats on the water and return them to Indonesia in an assertion of Australian border protection.
The Opposition Leader is determined to impose a new and tougher unilateral policy whereby Australia uses its naval forces to actively secure its borders.

2013:

We will deliver stronger borders – where the boats are stopped – with tough and proven measures….We will immediately give new orders to the Navy to tackle illegal boat arrivals and ‘turn back’ the boats where safe to do so….

The Federal Opposition has declared it would send Australian troops - including top level SAS soldiers - to help turn asylum-seeker boats around. But the declaration, from Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, comes after Indonesia expressed concern about the Coalition's "turn back the boats" policy. Mr Morrison declared on Sky News on Monday that the Coalition would replicate John Howard's actions during the Tampa crisis in 2001. He said former prime minister Howard had sent SAS troops to assist during the Tampa incident, indicating a return to similar strategies……

Note: Asylum seeker policies of other parties are not discussed as they do not have a realistic chance of forming government in their own right.

Four days in Australian Opposition Leader's life

According to the RSL National President’s Newsletter No 2 of 2012:

On Monday 5 March 2012 the Leader of the Federal Opposition, the Hon. Tony Abbott chose the large RSL Sub-Branch at Bendigo, Victoria to formally launch the commitment of the Federal Coalition Parties to improve the indexation of DFRB and DFRDB superannuation payments. Mr Abbott was accompanied by the Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Senator the Hon Michael Ronaldson and Senator Bridget

McKenzie. 

Later that day Abbott attended one of the Wimmera Machinery Field Days near Horsham – a distance of 215 kms from Bendigo.

To travel down to Bendigo on that Monday Mr. Abbott decided he wouldn’t drive or get on a bus, train or scheduled commercial flight – he would charter a plane for two days.

On the second day he visited an Adelaide school.

Tony Abbott Flickr Member since 2010 Taken on March 6, 2012 

Tony with the school captains from St Pius X School in Adelaide

This is what that trip cost Australian taxpayers……

http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/parliamentarians-reporting/docs/T30/ABBOTT_Tony.pdf

Fast forward to federal election year 2013 and yet another charter flight from Sydney to Rockhampton is about to be billed to the taxpayer:

The Sydney Morning Herald 19 July 2013

In the first three years after Tony Abbott was elected Leader of the Opposition by one vote, he spent at least $256,281.27 on private charter flights and been fully recompensed from the public purse.

In 2010 - an est. $65,969.64

In 2011 -an est. $138,209.55

In 2012 - an est. $52,102.08

During that same period his family travel jaunts cost the taxpayer an estimated $56,152.52 

http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/parliamentarians-reporting/index.html

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A hooked on leadership tension musing:

Having aided and abetted in beheading one Australian political leader, the mainstream media is now going after another - it's Turnbull v Abbott now and this is the narrative:

Tony Abbott now looks an even bet to emulate his former boss John Hewson (Abbott was Hewson's media adviser), who in 1993 lost what was widely considered an unloseable ballot against Paul Keating.

A green thumbs musing:

I'm giving Yamba Community Garden a big fat FAIL for its poor communication skills and lack of transparency.

Another fine mess you've got us into musing: A cyclist who had an accident on the Bluff Bridge is suing Clarence Valley Council in Collins v Clarence Valley Council [2013] NSWSC 815 (19 June 2013). The court said; “The configuration of the bridge was said to be such that, because she fell near the low guard railing on the bridge and her feet were strapped into her bicycle shoes which were in turn attached to her bike, it meant that she fell over the side of the bridge a number of metres to the bank of the creek below.” Ouch!

A prime ministerial musing: Word is that a number of hoomins along the Northern Rivers have been emailing messages of support to the PM [Gillard] like this: I sincerely hope that you lead the Labor Government into the 2013 federal election campaign as Australia's Prime Minister.

A very moggy musing: Mata Hari, the slinky oriental cat who lives on Yamba Road, took a walk with me through theYamba Bypass - Section 1 Species Impact Statement and asks - "What gives?" For the life x9 of her she can't understand why the author on one page mistook Yamba for Ballina and on another confused Deering Street and Cox Street, before deciding to slap an environmental offset bang in the middle of another stage of the bypass route. She reckons Yamba Feline Birdwatching Troop Inc. will be ecstatic, because it'll be so much easier to arrange takeaway meals once Clarence Valley Council destroys all those trees & bushes that dinner little birds get to hide in.

A Hhmmmm musing: Maclean Local Court 9.30am 11 June 2013 Mention (Other) Criminal Jurisdiction NSW Police v Geoffrey William LEVINYCase Number 201300148044 [NSW Online Registry] Maclean Local Court 9.30am 9 July 2013 Mention (Other) Criminal Jurisdiction NSW Police v Geoffrey William LEVINY Case Number 201300148044

A Hogan-esque musing: Which North Coast Nationals candidate at this year's federal election is complaining to anyone who will listen that the mainstream media is ignoring him?

Boy

When the stupidity bug strikes a television station

 

 

Posted on YouTube on Jul 12, 2013 were the alleged pilots' names aboard crashed Asiania Flight 214 revealed during televised broadcast by KTVU.com, a member of the Cox Media Group: 

Sum Ting Wong (something wrong)
Wi Tu Lo (why too low)
Ho Lee Fuk (holy f*ck)
Bang Ding Ow (bang, ding, ouch)

 

The apology by KTVU for incorrectly naming the pilots later that same day – also captured for posterity on YouTube.

 

KTVU went on to blame the US National Transport Safety Board:

 

In KTVU’s Noon newscast on Friday, July 12th, the station misidentified the pilots involved in the Asiana Airlines crash at SFO.

Prior to air, the names were confirmed by an NTSB official in the agency’s Washington, D.C. office. Despite that confirmation, KTVU realized the names that aired were not accurate and issued an apology later in the newscast.

The correct names of the pilots in the cockpit were Lee Gang-guk and Lee Jeong-Min.

“We sincerely regret the error and took immediate action to apologize, both in the newscast where the mistake occurred, as well as on our website and social media sites,” said Tom Raponi, KTVU/KICU Vice President & General Manager. “Nothing is more important to us than having the highest level of accuracy and integrity, and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again.”

In its turn the National Transport Safety Board blamed a summer intern.

I Fight Like A Girl

Destroy The Joint‏@JointDestroyer

#BraveGirlsWant to fight like a girl pic.twitter.com/cgYhpz4j2B

2:25 PM - 3 Jul 13

Advice to the Australian business sector doesn't get any blunter than this

The war of competing memes begins to escalate....

Labor and Greens at odds over O'Farrell Government's Local Land Services Act 2013

On 28 June 2013 Carol Vernon, The Greens candidate standing in Cowper at the forthcoming federal election, expressed some satisfaction with the final form of the O’Farrell Coalition Government’s Local Land Services Bill which was passed by the NSW Parliament on 27 June.

NSW Labor’s Steve Whan was taking a very different stance on this piece of legislation in a letter to the editor published in The Daily Examiner on 12 July 2013:

Farmers sold out

As some or your readers might be aware, the State Government's Local Land Services (LLS) legislation has passed the NSW Parliament. As of January 1 next year the LLS will replace the current Livestock Health and Pest Authorities and Catchment Management Authorities.
The NSW Labor Opposition has opposed the LLS for a number of reasons. The first is that the new bodies are already hamstrung by mass sackings of frontline and DPI staff and huge ongoing budget cuts to services for farmers.
As shadow minister I have serious reservations about whether a single entity can incorporate the work conducted by the LHPAs and the CMAs - two completely different organisations. Labor attempted to amend the LLS legislation to make its role clearer on both farm services and catchment management operations - the government did not support these changes.
Another major problem we tried to resolve was the balance between locally elected representatives and ministerial-appointed representatives on LLS boards.
Farmers made it very clear they did not support the model proposed by the government of four appointed and only three elected board members.
I attempted to make the boards 50% elected by local land holders and 50% by ministerial appointments - to ensure that local farmers and ratepayers had a direct say in the farm "face to face" services. These proposed changes were defeated by the government and the Nationals.
Unfortunately the Nationals once again have sold out rural NSW by failing to support this amendment and by meekly complying with the decimation of the face-to-face extension officer network.
Because the Nationals have let rural NSW down again there are now less on-farm services, less local specialist agronomists than at any time since Labor set up the extension officer network in the 1940s.
Over the past decade the NSW Nationals have made a deliberate effort not to preselect farmers for State seats and it is now starting to show. The few older backbench Nationals in the Parliament said very little in this debate. The "new breed", with no primary industries experience, just parroted the lines the Minister gave them.
History shows us that the Nationals in government are great at blaming other people but hopeless at delivering - this Government is unfortunately even worse, they are actively ripping out services from agriculture and rural communities.

Steve Whan MLC

Shadow Minister for Primary Industries