philperth2010 wrote on Dec 16^th, 2010 at 7:40am:


Didn't the Indonesian Government receive very many Aussie dollars to prevent this type of tragedy -  where is the money - what is Indonesia doing about it ?

The other awful thing is  do we want the type of men in his country who would do what was reported by an eyewitness as follows :

"Then the boat crashed into the cliff. There was chaos in the water, there was small children, women. The men seemed to hug the life jackets and it was not a nice sight to see men pushing women away from life jackets, looking after themselves."

Firstly- Here is a snippet (of course from an unknown KEY liberal party  source) written in the SMH~

"A cable obtained by WikiLeaks and provided exclusively to the Herald says an unnamed "key Liberal Party strategist'' told US diplomats in November last year that the issue of asylum seekers was ''fantastic'' for the Coalition and ''the more boats that come the better''

& Secondly ,   Liberals need to remember ;
     
"The boat people started in the 70s with the refugees fleeing Vietnam and Cambodia after the Vietnam War. Yet, there was very little hysteria because it had bi-partisan support and wasnt made into a political football. In fact, there was a lot of compassion shown towards the boat people:
you can almost trace the moment it had become a political football, and the hysteria started, that was the moment John Howard uttered these words in 2001:

"We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come"

Quote:




I know we're in different time zones, but this claim has been looked into in another thread

Thgere were FAR more drownings under the PREVIOUS government

It was tacitly agreed to score political points on this tragedy, no further

bwood1946 wrote on Dec 16^th, 2010 at 8:05am:

UN calls for refugee rethink
By Samantha Hawley

Posted 18 minutes ago

The United Nations refugee agency says yesterday's Christmas Island shipwreck reinforces the need for the international community to cooperate to find ways to stop perilous boat journeys.

At least 28 people died after an asylum seeker boat carrying up to 100 people was smashed against rocks by heavy seas on the shoreline near Flying Fish Cove.

UNHCR regional representative Richard Towle says the incident is a "tragic loss of innocent lives".

But he says he is not surprised the boat was able to reach Christmas Island without being detected.

"There have been a number of boats come pretty close to Christmas Island over the last 12 or 18 months, so I'm not terribly surprised," he said.

"I know that the sea conditions have been very, very rough.

"It's a very difficult and very dangerous undertaking that people have been undertaking."

Mr Towle would not be drawn on whether the Government's policy on asylum seekers had contributed to the tragedy.

"I don't think this is a time for recriminations around policy," he said.

"This is a moment for some rather sad reflection and compassion for those who have lost their lives.

"This is a terrible incident. I think in many ways it's something that has been anticipated. It could have happened more frequently, but for the grace of God has not."

Mr Towle says the incident was a stark reminder of the dangers involved for those seeking new lives.

"The fact that this boat has capsized against the edge of Christmas Island, it's a tragic reminder of how dangerous it is for people who've put their lives into the hands of people smugglers and boat movements coming to Australia," he said.

"There are innocent women and children on board these boats. And the seas at this time of the year are very rough and dangerous.

"And we really do have to find options that will provide security and safety for people in other places, so that the need for protection through boat movements is reduced."

Tags: immigration, disasters-and-accidents, maritime-accidents, emergency-incidents, government-and-politics, federal-government, foreign-affairs, refugees, australia, christmas-island

You and I know its the same everywhere Smithy.

In the UK we have the Somali problem.
In California we have the Mexican problem.
France has the North African problem.
Germany the Turkish problem.

etc etc etc

Quote:


typical idiotic leftard UN comment by an unproductive highly paid paper pusher

it's THE time for policy recriminations.
the right policy, and this'ld not happen, or happen very rarely

bwood1946 wrote on Dec 16^th, 2010 at 8:05am:


The local witnesses will be long haunted by the scenes.

"I rang the police straight away to let them know what was going on," said one, John."The next thing you know there was probably 20 of us down at the water. I was yelling out, 'Start your motor!' They said it was dead. These people were in big trouble."

The passengers were being buffeted across the deck by the swell. After the impact, the air filled with diesel fumes.

Amid the lifejackets and broken palings bobbed the heads of passengers. Onlookers struggled to distinguish the victims from the debris. About half a dozen passengers clung to large chunks of the hull which, though submerged, had remained intact.

"A lot of them were praying - it was a frightening scene," John said of the moments before the boat was smashed.

"There was chaos in the water. There were small children. There were women.

"The men seemed to hug the life jackets. It was not a very nice sight to see men pushing women away from life jackets and really looking after themselves."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/at-least-27-dead-in-christmas-island-refugee-boat-crash-tragedy/story-e6frf7l6-1225971785443

no tears from me earnie.

and, no tears from anyone else here either.
can the claptrap - you never knew them.

going to have a weep for every death in the globe ???