ceasefire over then?, page 3

Originally posted by Ezekiel

Originally posted by kickoutthejams
Dark I think you're asking for it there with the sovereign Britain remark - go easy on him Ezekiel! Aussies are fiercely proud of their independence.

However, Australia has taken a hard move to the right over recent years dare I say even downright belligerent in its attitude to immigration and the war on terror. Where does your senator stand on this?

Haha =) Thats ok, Im not terribly concerned with Australia being part of the Commonwealth (and therefore under the Royal family). I think that strong cultural and political relationships between the UK and Australia are very important =D

You are right that Aus has moved to the right in recent years. I think this is due to Australians being very proud of our way of life and being very keen to preserve it.

My senator (as well as the majority of the Howard Government) are very happy for people to migrate to Australia so long as they are willing to integrate with the Australian culture and to become productive members of our society. However when they show up with no identification and no way to prove who they are and what their intent is, the government makes sure they will not be a threat which can unfortunately take a very long time. While they are sympathetic to these people, and dont want them languishing in dentention centers for years, their first responsibility is to the Australian people who want to maintain the peaceful and tolerant society we have.

On terrorists Aussies are fairly clear. They are not welcome here and anywhere we can help out we will =D (with the exception of a few radical lefties who think everyone should just hold hands and sing kum-bah-yah)

I think that the UK could learn something from out Australian brethren on that matter. I dont know if your aware of our policy on immigration, but basically it would appear we have none. Immigrants flood here in their thousands. Legally, illegally, it doesnt matter. There was a scam uncovered where illegals were being given National Insurance numbers (something you need to have to get a job, claim benefits such as unemployment payments, housing benefits etc.) by the job centres we have here. They are given housing, money, whatever they like. There was also a case of the Government overpaying thousands of people with benefits and when they realised what had happened they asked all ACTUAL british citizens to pay back what they had been overpayed, this equalled a lot of money in some cases. The immigrants who were overpayed were not only NOT asked to pay back the money, but were sent a letter of apology for being overpayed and were, as far as I know, allowed to keep the money.

Anyway I have gone wildly off topic here so I do apologise.