Can I've the $100 anyway, at least I researched it . Maybe $50 and you choose the charity
First of all, refugees are not illegal immigrants. It has never been illegal in Australia to arrive on shore without a visa seeking asylum. In fact it's one of the rights within the UN's declarations on refugees which Australia helped to write.
When an asylum seeker arrives in Australia, they do not get any Centrelink benefits.
While their status is being processed, and if they meet certain criteria, they can be eligible for financial support from the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme, administered through the Red Cross.
This amount is 89% of the basic Centrelink allowance. This means approximately $405.84 per fortnight – over $260 less than a pensioner.
For an asylum seeker to qualify for any payment under the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme, they must have lodged an application for a visa 6 months before, not be in detention, and not get any other payment or benefit.
Once an asylum seeker is recognised as a genuine refugee, after a long and highly scrutinized process, they are given permanent residency and are then entitled to the same Centrelink, schooling and health benefits as anyone else. No more, no less.
The normal Centrelink welfare payment is $456 per fortnight, for a refugee with permanent residency and an Australian-born person. A pensioner in Australia receives $671.90. Over $200 more each fortnight. Even with family/parenting benefits, a refugee's benefits would still be less than a pensioner's income.
To get a permanent residence as a refugee, the person has to prove they are a genuine refugee fleeing persecution, go through character, security and medical tests, and sign an Australian Values Statement.
'Boat people' are asylum seekers. Refugees are asylum seekers who have been approved and given a visa. None of them are 'illegal immigrants'.
^ Well yes. Technically an illegal immigrant gets nothing.
I suppose all this makes me appear a tree-hugging hippie with a fetish for war-torn women. Not really.
I just hate commercial television and radio inciting strong emotions in their viewers/product, based on utter bull****, by picking on the weak, to make the viewers feel all hard-done-by ...all to sell more advertising, to the same gullible viewers, that are kept gullible by the commercial television and radio they listen to.
...Oh god, I sound just like him.
PR definition of stupid: every person that has a different opinion than mine!
Being called stupid by the like of you (do gooders) is a compliment!
I have my opinion forged on the knowledge I acquired talking to folks that migrated to greener pasture after the place they used to call home was invaded by muslims.
We will talk about that in let say............... 20 years when the muslims will have a few elected members of parliament.
You made your opinion staying too long with the fairies and the tree huggers folk believing everybody in the world is nice and loving.
I will always remember a cleric muslim from Algeria that said: The prophet want us to convert the whole world to be muslim. Contrarily to you Christians that tried and failed we will never give up even if we need to kill millions of infidel.
^ well yeah, this is why I hate religion. I wasn't trying to be moral, just separating fact from fantasy fiction. Pensioners get more than refugees, slightly more than f-all.
BTW felix I wouldn't call you stupid. I don't know you well enough. Ignorance does not equal stupid. If you're inquisitive then you ain't stupid.
As for muslim refugees invading us: Most are from Iraq and Afghanistan. If that dessicated little coconut hadn't jumped up to join Bush, without thinking first, against massive public opinion, perhaps none of this would be happening. Drawn into yet another senseless war with the US and this is the outcome.
The only reason Howard still stands by his decision is that he couldn't possibly handle facing the reality of what he approved. It wouldn't be easy, all that blood on your hands. He'll be in self-denial until he dies.
I just advise the do gooders that are living in their little egg shell to go and see the world!
Couple of weeks in Marseille France would change their opinion.
As I said let wait 20 years and talk......
I made my opinon on facts!
Well well well , back to little Johnies system .
The labour pollies should give back a percentage of their pay packet , equivalent to the cost of this " process " since 2010 .
What a bloody waste of your and my money , these idiots have stuffed around for two years ,talking crap.
Give us your pay packets back !!!!
A GROUP of asylum seekers rescued from a leaky boat has allegedly used aggression to force a merchant vessel them to take them to Australia instead of Singapore.
The merchant vessel, the MV Parsifal, rescued a group of 67 asylum seekers off Java on Tuesday morning following a distress call from the group to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare told Sky News the group was "very aggressive" towards the master of the giant car-carrier when it picked them up early Tuesday.
As a result of the aggression, the MV Parsifal's captain decided not to go to Singapore - the ship's planned destination - but to take the group to Christmas Island instead.
The same group of asylum seekers is claiming one person on the boat fell overboard.
Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said he was "outraged" by the claims of aggression, accusing the group of "potential piracy".
That group of asylum seekers is now at risk of being sent to Nauru or Manus Island for processing under the Government's new offshore regime.
Mr Clare added that a team of officials would arrive on Manus Island tonight and in Nauru on Friday to prepare for the set up of offshore processing centres.
The Senate will probably spend much of today debating the legislation to reinstate the offshore processing.
Mr Clare said it was critical to get the work done as quickly as possible.
"This will send the quickest message to people smugglers that the game is over," he told the ABC.
One Liberal backbencher says the incident proves some potential refugees are of poor character and shouldn't be given an Australian visa.
"This plays into what we've been saying for a long time that people seeking asylum here ... some of them wouldn't pass the character test,'' West Australian Liberal Don Randall told reporters in Canberra .
"Under the Howard regime we wouldn't have given them a visa.''
Mr Randall said federal Labor created a ''big pull factor'' because too many asylum seekers who reached Australia were given a visa.
"So we attracted a whole range of people who I don't think were necessarily genuine - they were more economic refugees,'' he said, adding that the incident involving the MV Parsifal showed there was a range of people with strange behaviour ''that we want to be very careful about before we do consider them for Australian citizenship''.
"We need to toughen up on those sorts of things.''
Mr Randall denied the rescue demonstrated it would be too tough for the Australian Navy to turn around boats at sea as advocated by the opposition.
"Here we are saying that our navy can't board asylum seeker boats?'' he said.
"What a joke. They're trained for it. Our personnel are quite capable of dealing with a bunch of asylum seekers on a leaky boat.''
Officials head to Nauru and Manus Island
The drama comes as police, government and military officials head to Nauru and Manus Island, ahead of expected offshore processing legislation passing both houses of federal parliament.
The Senate is likely to spend much of Thursday debating legislation to reinstate offshore processing on the islands, with the Greens expected to continue their opposition to the move.
An RAAF aircraft will leave Canberra for Nauru and Manus Island around 10am (AEST) on Thursday, in preparation for setting up offshore processing centres there.
On board will be a team of officials and a film crew, who will prepare videos to discourage asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat, ABC radio reported.
The clips will be called Australia by Boat, No Advantage, and will be distributed through social media.
Draft laws which allow the government to reinstate processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea passed the House of Representatives before question time on Wednesday.
The legislation is expected to pass the Senate on Thursday
www.perthnow.com.au/news/nsw/offshore-asylum-laws-through-parliament-ng-e3a76c7c7d0831e7700445ab32169ef6
Nice peeps! IMO they are pirates and a little stay to Nauru or Manus Island before going back to start will serve them well!
I thought that if you were not of good caracter you could not migrate to Australia???
If the aussie government gives them surfboards they will want to stay in indo and I will change my name to Muhammed and join them.
Let them wait in limbo as do A.S. that dont take a boat, why should people paying a fare to a smuggler have access to " rights " over those that have not made landfall..
I'm a rabbitho and wish some of the bleeding hearts would look closer to home and take some knowledge from experience of our past to tread lightly before social turmoil becomes our language, how long did it take to say "I'm sorry"
Give it some thought, don't know how it goes over whoever. if ya on board wait in queeeeee. fair enough
White fella black heart