Downer's a cunt. What a terrible, dishonest way to try to make political capital.Downer weighs in to boat blast debate
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says there is no doubt the Government's asylum seeker policies are connected to yesterday's fatal boat blast near Ashmore Island.
"Definitely there's just no question of it," he told Canberra ABC Local Radio.
"People smugglers in Indonesia were very interested in the election campaign in Australia and of course they followed very closely the debate that took place," he said.
"I know people in Indonesia who know people smugglers personally and I have seen material to that effect.
"So whatever position you take on the issue it's important to understand that these people hope that we run a slacker, or as lax a policy, as possible."
The Rudd government has abolished the use of temporary protection visas and changed the rules of detention
Neither of which change the incentives for people smugglers at all.
The official channels don't work. I gather, for a long time well past the fall of the former regime, for whatever reason, the Australian embassy in Iraq closed its doors and wouldn't accept new applicants.Come to Australia legally.
If we won't take you, fuck off to a country that will take you legally.
And then you have the many people who are sent home and executed in short order.
I'm sympathetic to people facing their certain deaths.
The legal channels make mistakes, as in a few obvious high profile cases. If Australian citizens can be deported, how fair is the judgement being placed on actual refugees?