It is such an emotional issue I hate to see it politicised. But the issue of asylum seekers is the hot election issue as both major parties seem to be trying to outdo each other to have the toughest policy.

It’s a shame because often reality becomes a casualty of the politics to get votes. And there are plenty of votes around asylum seekers and boats.

Cartoon by Peter Nicholson: The Australian

Gillard has announced the Labor party’s policy to deal with the arrivals of the boats, which is surprisingly similar to that of Abbott and the Opposition. Both of which are very reminiscent of the Pacific Solution of the Howard government.

I hate queue jumpers. I detest people smugglers who are the scum of the earth.

We have every right to determine who comes to this country, who doesn’t, how many and when. That is our right.

BUT lets be sensible about it and base our decisions on fact rather than emotion.

Unlike the tax debate, this one involves real people, real lives. The decisions made here could be a matter of life and death for some. Yes we have to get rid of the cheats and liars who try to sneak in by taking advantage of our compassion.

But then we must show compassion to those who need and deserve it. That’s the Australian way. We are a compassionate nation and I don’t want that to change.

We just can’t generalize and claim all boatpeople are crooks and thieves… that’s just not right. It’s the opposite in fact. Most are genuine refugees.

Here are some facts we should keep in the back of our minds when we’re thinking and talking about asylum seekers.

• The UNHCR, who handles the processing of refugees worldwide, reports that only 0.5% of global asylum applications are made to Australia
• Australia is ranked 47^th in the world for taking in refugees. The top countries are Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Germany.
• We’re ranked 91^st in relation to the nation’s wealth… those which can afford to take in refugees.
• Australia has an annual immigration program of 200 000, but takes less than 4000 asylum seekers.
• 90% of ‘boat people’ are eventually found to be legitimate asylum seekers, fleeing persecution and death in their home country. This is who Abbott wants to just ‘turn around’.
• In 2009, South Africa took in 222,324 asylum seekers. France took 42,118. Australia took 3,441.
• But we did resettle 11,080 refugees from overseas.
• Australia was one of the first nations in the world to sign the UNHCR’s convention for Refugees, which agrees to accept asylum seekers without refusal.
• Australia has an army deployed in Iraq but is refusing to recognise the refugee status of Iraqi asylum seekers.
• 97% of illegal immigrants arrive in Australia through airports on a tourist visa and then overstay.

While the pictures of illegal boats arriving look dramatic, the vast majority of queue jumpers come in on a plane through our airports. In fact, illegal arrivals are more likely to be living next door to you.

If anything, I would rather my tax money be used to catch these people than the millions spent on a few arriving on a leaky boat.

That’s not to say we don’t try and stop the boats. We need to hit the operations of the people smugglers before their cargo get on the boats in the first place.

Tony Abbott also made a good point when I interviewed his yesterday when he said atleast those arriving through airports weren’t paying people smugglers and their trip was a lot safer than on a boat.

Before you hear the politicians spin the issue, before they start flexing their muscles to see who sounds toughest, look at the facts and then make up your mind.

What are your thoughts? Do facts like these change your mind about our politicians' tough stance on asylum seekers?

Keep up to date by following me on Twitter or through the Kochie Facebook page .

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-5 #33 Mike Judd 2012-10-11 13:59

All very well, but on the whole they are economic Refugees who could have taken refuge in any no of countries on the way, No they spent large sums of money on getting to a country (Oz) that looks after it's non workers the best. Whether they are Queue Jumpers or not is not my worry. What worries me is are they going to assimilate into the Australian way of life and adopt our customs like all those before,includin g myself. No what I would like to see is that when ever anyone of what ever religion or race
take out citizenship and swear that oath to obey our laws, that they be bound to that oath and if they ever break that oath they would be liable for deportation back to where they came from. Or is the oath taking meaningless. What a simple way of reducing the future crime rate.? no reasonable person could object.

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0 #32 TellthewholestoryKoc 2012-07-11 20:44

Iran/Pakistan. The refs are only hosted not allow. to stay. In fact they are even supp. by the UNHCR. Money mostly from west. Iran is in the process of return. refs to Afghan & in fact mills have already ret on their own. Another thing the article fails to mention is that these refs are not only from this war with Afghan. by the Soviet era (some let in under spec religious visas) & others stayed on to work bcs the Iranians wanted them & had $$ from oil. Wake up!

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+2 #31 Lena Hope 2012-06-11 18:17

I have just tried to post to this blog and was told that it will be examined by an administrator. I do not expect my reply to ever get posted. Both side of the argument are not being heard here.

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0 #30 Lena Hope 2012-06-11 18:15

It's all very well to be compassionate, but these young men coming on boats have a culture so very different to that of Australia and by their own laws cannot assimilate into ours. They are insisting on us accepting their culture and laws. They hate us with a vengeance. It terrifies me.

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+8 #29 2011-08-26 10:35

Hello Kochie, first of all like another person has posted - I am not a fan of yours. I don't watch morning tv shows and didn't even know you had a blog. I was doing some searching about true facts on refugees to share on my facebook page, when I clicked on the link that lead me here.

Thank you for presenting a more balanced and humane opinion on this issue - one which I have been striving to impart to my friends. It is refreshing to see a media person who looks beyond the propaganda spewed by the government & others in the media.

It sickens me when my friends make ignorant comments about refugees being "queue hopping" and "illegal". They fail to realise that the vast majority of people who are actually illegal are people who are overstaying their holiday/working/education visas.

Why aren't the government & media in an uproar about those kinds of people?

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+3 #28 2011-07-23 15:33

Thanks for this Kochie, it is so important that clear facts are presented by people that everyday Australians listen to and respect. It is not a political issues - no matter who you are, where you're from or how you arrived you're a person and deserve to be treated as such.

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-2 #27 2010-08-11 11:23

I don't mind opening the doors to all refugees as human beings. Can we afford to care for them? But there shouldn't be any discrimination, so let us open our doors to everyone even European South African nationals that are not given landing permits because of biased points... Nobody is talking about any increases in the GST after the elections... WHY... it seems a real eventuality. Joe

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+1 #26 2010-08-09 18:55

To be honest I'm not a fan and haven't seen much of your work. A friend told me about your blog post. I wanted let you know I have a huge respect for staying true to the ideals of your profession and presenting the objective, unadulterated facts on an issues so many of your colleagues are happy to sensationalise for ratings gain, wihout questioning the alterior motives of the major parties' press releases they read from or thought of the consequences of desseminating such harsh, exploitative rhetoric. Thankyou!

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+6 #25 2010-07-16 17:34

Really great to see the facts presented in the media by someone who has as much influence as you do. Well done Kochie for rising above!

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+7 #24 2010-07-15 18:37

How wonderful to hear from someone in the maintream media, attempting to put sanity back into this emotive debate. I thank you for that. Your facts are spot on and the beat-up hysteria about the "boat people" is being used for political gain. I would also like to mention that not all people smugglers are evil. Most of them may be benefiting financiallly (or maybe not) by assisting desperate people to escape their misery but if it weren't for them, many refugees would have no means of leaving their awful circumstances. Many persecuted people escaping from the Nazi regime during the 2nd WW, were rescued and brought to a safe land by "people smugglers". I hope what you have put up on your blog does inform those people who have fallen for the "fear" tactics used by the Coalition who are trying to use this as a wedge to win votes. Will they never learn????

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