Abbott's no no no to everything tactic is designed to put pressure on Gillard---she's incompetent---and this is part of his battle plan to knock Gillard off and grab the levers of power.

The tactic is always the same--keep increasing the pressure on the Gillard Government until it falls over--ie., can't govern. The strategy is to show that Gillard Labor is unfit to govern. It's politics as poker.

in the world of tabloid politics refugees arriving by boats is equated with Islam and this undercurrent is used for political advantage to beat the drums of fear and panic.---eg., the tabloid talk of armadas and floods again on the rise.

"Stop the boats" is the conservative slogan. Close the borders. Well, if we do stop the boats asylum seekers will end up in Indonesia and Malaysia anyway.

So the conservatives don't care about ensuring better protection, rights and resettlement outcomes for the thousands who are trapped inside the Malaysian borders.

Close the borders is their response.

If "Stop the boats" is the conservative's slogan, then the Coalition have succeeded in backing the Gillard Govt into a corner after the High Court decision.

The Opposition can barely hide its glee at the opportunity to yet again use the word 'incompetent' to beat the Labor Party up and show it is unfit for office.

I seem to remember "stop the boats" was a Labor slogan when the dirty conservatives were in power.

Ho Ho Ho

The comment '"Stop the boats" is the conservative's slogan' would also apply to the ALP right. Their position is very similar to that of the Coalition--send all the asylum seekers to Nauru and temporary protection visa's when the asylum seekers sent to Nauru end up in Australia.

It's a policy of deterrence.

Surely what is important is not where processing of asylum seeker's happens, but whether it is fair and efficient.

In ruling against the Malaysian agreement the High Court opened opportunity for a meaningful regional dialogue on protection, asylum and the humanitarian needs of displaced populations.

What is important re regional cooperation is that Australia work with
the transit countries in the region - Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia -to develop their own laws and policies on effective asylum and refugee protection and to create a system to assess the refugee claims of people in their territory.

Sick to death of the whole thing. There is no underlying principle in any of the "debate" on this issue. None of the parties or commentators make any sense whatsoever.

Beautifully put, Lyn.

I've had a gutful of what is laughably called out border protection "policy"... really a string of knee-jerk reactions.

This putrid mess is fed by the need (by lazy, amoral opportunists in both parties) to placate a relative handful of ignorant, racist tools in a few marginal seats around Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Yeah... demockracy at it's finest!

Bloody scum, the lot of them!

The Gillard Government continues to maintain its support for the Malaysia swap plan, to reject TPVs, but it is giving ground on processing of asylum claims in Nauru.

The inference--Abbott will give no quarter on this issue---and the ALP, under pressure, will accept the Pacific solution that it once rejected.

Popular opinion still seems to be as hostile as ever to asylum seekers arriving by boat. Suspicion of the motives and means of asylum seekers is still deeply held in sections of Australian society--they are seen to be economic refugees or economic opportunists.

It's time to close the borders.

Right - "close the borders" - a meaningless slogan unless you:
- have the Navy open fire on all vessels approaching the Australian coastline
- close all airports to incoming international flights. That should just about do it.