I too am concerned at how hard medical and dental care and affordable housing is to get for Australians. Yet these people flee their country, try and get in here illegally, and get everything handed to them fir nothing and upon request. No waiting time at all. I mostly don’t have a problem with people coming here, except for the illegals and the ones who can’t adapt to our life and expect us to change to accommodate them

We are lucky and fortunate to live in a glorious country and others are fleeing war ravaged countries. I feel empathy for people fleeing war and torture and starvation.

If they want to be here, let them be here – if they screw up – send them home! I have no issue sharing this gorgeous place with any nationality, gender, colour, faith, age, sexual orientation, martial status, political beliefs, etc etc etc… We can all live together, in this country, as long as we all tolerate each other! We don’t need to love or like everyone, but agree to disagree, tolerate things, be kinder to one and other, and things will be peachy keen! We don’t own this place, we just live here, that is all THEY want to do too..

I still feel we could show more compassion.

Here goes:

Australia doesn’t belong to anyone, we just all live here. I cringe when I hear and see people saying we should look after our own and that refugees don’t belong here. When these people come to our shores by boat we don’t know until they’ve been processed whether they are legally entitled to be here or not. Once processed then yes, if it’s found that some are then deemed to be ‘illegals’ I agree they should be sent back and the others that are genuine refugees then we should accommodate them.

Everyone should make themselves aware of the ‘Refugee Convention’ that Australia is a signatory to before saying that these people shouldn’t be here and don’t have the right to come here by boat.

As for looking after the people that are already here, the homeless etc.. that we already have, I think we are already doing this in many ways, yes, our system isn’t perfect but that doesn’t mean we should turn our backs on everyone else.

Sorry, sick of hearing the ‘them and us’ attitudes and the ‘this country is ours’ – it isn’t, get some compassion, do some research, stop being selfish, read more than just the headlines.

I have a 50/50 opinion on asylum seekers. Part of me thinks we need to concentrate on our own country but the other part of me thinks how would I feel if I was trying to flee a country at war or to give my children hope.

I recently encountered a poor old gentleman that was awaiting an operation on his eyes as he was pretty much legally blind. Despite this he is unable to have the operation for some time and has been on a waiting list for far too long. He had obvious white films over his eyes and I had to write his name for him, as he could not see to do so. He can hear, so whilst that isn’t an issue when crossing the road, his fear is that he won’t see a car and get ran over, as he is no longer able to drive. Despite his problems he doesn’t complain and accepts the reality of the wait. If we cannot afford to help this older gentleman, can we really afford to take on more people from outside of our own country?

I think we should basically tell them NO !!!!!
Sorry but i think the government should help out the people who actually have the rights to live here before they start handing out money and rights to people who dont.
It just really annoys me they come to OUR country and refuse to speak the language yet if you were to go to their country and try and speak to them in english god help you.
They believe that everyone owes them everything but sorry they dont you have to work for it.

Touchy subject. I think Australia like any other country is not immune to homeless, poverty etc & we do have problems in our own backyard which in reality will ever be fixed, no matter how much $$ is spent.It will always be there. My stance on asylum seekers has changed. We can’t just let them into the country & not provide a support network for them.They need food,housing & financial support too.Fair or not fair? Very fair in my opinion

I agree with the concern already expressed for people in need in this country, but I don’t think refusing to help those in dire circumstances from other nations is necessarily the answer. I do think we should be putting more effort into strategies that would reduce the root cause of asylum seekers – such as working to minimise poverty, famine, wars, tyrannical behaviour, in other countries.

I just wanted to clarify that when I speak of people in our country and refer to Australians in my last comment, I mean people of all colours and creeds etc residing in Australia. All I meant was I would rather look after anyone of any colour or race or religion currently living here and that we can’t afford to take more people until we are in a better position financially.

I am sorry but I think we should look after our own back yard first before we look after others when we still have such a high homeless rate and people living on the on the razors edge and barely making ends met or not making them at all. I am not saying do not help those that are looking at death and torture if they return but also don’t give them more than what you give those of your own country. Ok every one can start their flame throwers.

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  • • hopefullyheidi replied
    • 11 Jul 2014 , 9:34 am

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  I won’t be starting any flame throwers I tend to agree. Whilst I’m sympathetic to those in impoverished circumstances, there are over 200,000 people who sleep out without a home each night in Australia. 47,000 of that figure are people under the age of 25 probably with very few life coping skills due to circumstances. I was watching the news and seen a David someone, who is a human rights lawyer sprouting all these things about how the government was acting against human rights. What annoyed me the most was this man sits in his ivory tower in cloud land with all his wealth being a high ranking lawyer and talks about poor living circumstances that he wouldn’t have a clue about. When I had my custody battle enforced upon me by my sons father and I ended up winning, nobody gave me a lawyer or subsidised costs. Despite me not starting the case, but actually winning I’m not eligible to receive a penny back of what cost somewhere $20,000-$30,000. Had it not been for family help over that year I would have faced the very real possibility of losing custody of my son. I’m no racist, nor am I immune to the suffering of others but please let’s consider helping our own first as we cannot afford to take on the cost of more people. I have nothing to give to many Australian charities because I really can’t afford it, but what I do do is give blood and plasma when I can. I simply find it unfair to Aussie battlers that others are handed lawyers and housing upon processing, as well as other things when a lot of people are living off the bones of their backsides in our own country.

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    • • no1ladydj replied
      • 13 Jul 2014 , 9:02 pm

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    I’m with you both 110% on this subject. There are homeless people, people spending years on public-hospital waiting lists for surgery, people on public-housing waiting lists for 10-15+ years, etc. and so many people already living in Australia who need help in many ways. Call me selfish, but we need to look after the people already living here, before we bring in more people.