The heartlessness appalls me

While I don't have a solution to the refugee problem, I am constantly stunned at the self righteous anger of most people who oppose Australia's policy on refugees. People seem to act as if they were born in Australia through some act of personal good work.

If you are Australian it is purely a stroke of luck. You have done nothing that makes you more deserving of the safety and security of Australia than a refugee from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan.

I wish people would have the honesty to say, I don't care about your circumstances. If you come here you are reducing my personal wealth and so I don't want you here.

All these arguments about queue jumpers, people smugglers and economic migrants are just excuses to fool ourselves.

People are fleeing from genuine fear for their safety and security. They could sit in a refugee camp and wait, but in most cases, they would never get to the front of the queue. The number of people wealthy countries are willing to take is far less than the number of people 'in the queue'. It is not really a queue, unless it is moving.

Let's admit that it is only by 'the grace of God' that we are not refugees, and try to come up with a solution to the problem from that angle.

in reference to: Refugee boats intercepted in Indian Ocean (view on Google Sidewiki)