There is so much political hullaboo in Australia at the moment over Tamil asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat by Sri Lanka. The event has given expression to one of Australia’s defining fears: the arrival of boat people from Asia.

Most of the voices are saying that the Rudd Government needs to toughen up--ie., get some backbone--- when it comes to asylum-seekers. These voices mostly come from the conservative side of politics and they mean 'turn the boats back'. We don't want the boats landing on our shores. Their emphasis is toughness on border protection (Fortress Australia) and, by implication, the harsh treatment of refugees in Australia.

Rudd's Indonesian solution---palming off boats to other countries to prevent them from coming to Christmas Island ---has done nothing to solve Australia's refugee problem, as it encourages people to bypass Indonesia and sail directly for Australia.

Why not increase the resources for processed by staff from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to reduce the years of waiting to be processed to months?