Coreena - Australia has as much a secular (post-colonisation) history as it does a Christian one (people very rarely used the term ‘judeo’ to also describe Australia’s history until more recent times).

It is not specifically that Muslims try to come here more than anywhere else - although they have as much right as anyone else does. There have been Muslims in Australia since the early days of European settlement, and mosques around for over a century.

In any case, the vast majority of asylum seekers from the Middle East (who aren’t just Muslim of course) stay in surrounding countries in their region. Of those that try to go further afield to more secure locations, most go to Europe or North America.

You have rightly pointed out past refugee flows from Vietnam. I expect we will see more from Burma and Bangladesh, coming through Malaysia (which I should repeat has a very poor record of mistreating asylum seekers in their country). There will probably be more Tamils from Sri-Lanka for a while (who are not Muslim).

Refugees have a right to protection, regardless of their religion. In as much as there are any problematic issues, as there have been or are with all other components of Australian society, it is far better - for everyone - to work together on having them understood and addressed, rather than suggest they should be kept out. All that will do is increase division, hostility and misunderstanding all round.

However, I do agree with Andrew that a change in this area is needed.

Apart from obviously not knowing what ‘populist’ means, you also incorrectly use the term ‘illegals’ to describe people who are not.

You’re understand of the ‘myth’ is obviously faulty, seeing all I have done is outlined (and linked to) many well-established and documented facts, and given some assessments of what this means.

You also clearly don’t know what an ‘open-shore policy’ is, seeing I haven’t advocated anything of the sort.

Presumably you are also not aware that I have often had the responsibility of having to make decisions which have influenced the implementation of immigration policy. Some of these decisions are difficult, because this is often an area with no easy answers (although you seem to think you have them).

Finding solutions in the homelands of displaced people so they are able to return safely is always the best option whenever it is possible. But as I said, unless we can deliver world peace and an end to poverty, then there will be many times when such an option is not possible. If you are saying you have the solutions to bring about world peace and end to poverty (or even just one of them), I’m sure everyone would love to hear them.

Is it not time we grew up in this country and realised that we are all here because of people movements for all sorts of reasons.

We have to move on from an infantile STOP THE BOATS policy to considering how to respect both the human rights of the asylum seekers and our own interests.

We can do both.

Warehousing people in Indonesia is both immoral and storing up trouble for the future.

Give them a break and process their claims fairly and then resettle them here to join the Australian family.

Who’s the 16 year old in this case?

Now, Pedro, tell me which parties and policies really are the populist ones..

With more time I would happily debunk those myths which he has written (no doubt for the sole purpose of enhancing his own ego in his own mind). If Bartlett wanted to really do some work, he may have pointed out that the real solution to illegal immigrants did not lie in an open-shore policy, but in finding solutions in the homelands of those illegals.

What a great privelege Bartlett must enjoy to be able to write populist article espousing populists policies, without ever having the responsibility of having to implement it.

In the mean time he gets all the plaudits and pats on the back from fellow minor party aspirants, those who one day hope to fill that role of minor party vacuum.

They know they will never have to do any work except be the left wing populist voice of infinite youthful anarchy. Thank god the democrats are now extinct.

The true