It is the people smugglers, whether their clients be true refugees or economic immigrants, who make money out of this vile trade. One also has to ask why Australia is the destination of choice? The answer is quite simple. Once you get here, the returns are so high to the individuals concerned that they take the necessary risk to get here. True refugees could happily settle in any one of the countries they have travelled through to get here.

By relaxing the controls the government is encouraging more of this activity but it will not face up to the reality that relaxation of these controls is probably a significant cause of the influx. People smuggling by boat is but one channel of illegal immigration, and overstaying visas and shonky training colleges are much greater source of illegal migration into this country. Perhaps if the government cracked down on those alternative channels, it could provide more opportunity for genuine refugees to come to Australia. Unfortunately this would involve a policy decision which would upset the growing number of ethnic diasporas in Australia, especially as once illegal migrants get a foothold in this country it is difficult to get them out.

So the simple solution for Rudd is to look good by relaxation of controls at home for domestic political consumption, and get the Indonesians do the dirty work for you. That way you can play the good guy at home and use the Indonesians as your police.

It would be much better if the government, if it wishes to control illegal immigration to jointly reinstate the firm controls provided by the previous government and strictly enforce the rules in relation to illegal migration through overstaying of visas. Then as a consequence we could increase our intake of genuine refugees, identified through United Nations agencies and not by some self assessment process facilitated by people smugglers.