Feel free to disagree

Do I look like the freaking Statue of Liberty?

Dear Snarkhunters,

Why do we let boat people (a.k.a. asylum seekers) get so close to Australia in the first place? All we are doing is giving them false hope that they will be welcomed with open arms. We want to discourage illegal refugees, not give blankets and medical care when we pull them out of the water.

When a refugee is pulled from the ocean or hauled from their raft, they are given a comprehensive medical check-up to ensure that they have suffered no ill effects from their journey. A lesser, more cursory medical examination from my G.P. costs me $55 and I can only claim some of that back from Medicare.

Have you read The Australian today?

Six of the asylum seekers injured in the Ashmore Reef explosion may be released next week

Nicolas Perpitch |April 20, 2009

SEVERAL asylum seekers burned in an explosion on their boat near Ashmore Reef have taken their first steps and six are likely to be released from Royal Perth Hospital early next week.

Seven asylum seekers remain in intensive care, with two in a critical condition.

Another 10 are in the hospital’s burns unit and six in the trauma unit.

All are in a stable condition.

Burns specialist Fiona Wood said six patients with burns to less than 10 per cent of their body had now managed to get out of bed.

"Rehabilitation begins at the time of injury, from our point of view," Professor Wood said.

"So we’ve got people mobilising them and moving towards that already. And that’s ongoing."

She said spray-on skin cells, which she invented, were used on about two-thirds of the 23 asylum seekers at the hospital.

Or the WA Today?

No split bills for burnt asylum seekers

Aja Styles

April 21, 2009 - 6:38AM

Taxpayers nationally will foot the bill to treat illegal asylum seekers burnt in an explosion off the WA coast last Thursday.

The Federal Government has committed to paying the costs of the treatment to the Afghan refugees injured by the explosion, which occurred at 6.30am on Ashmore Reef.

That is a little more costly than a $55 consult for a slight fever and a stomach ache. Intensive care costs approximately $5000 per day. Meanwhile many Australians with life threatening illnesses are on hospital waiting lists for a procedure they may not get scheduled for, before it’s too late.

I am not saying the deprivation of medical care is necessarily the way to go, just that perhaps someone else should foot the bill. They are Afghan nationals, they aren’t welcome in Australia (no matter what hopes of an open arm reception they cherish) so why should it be our problem? Afghanistan could divert some of their military spending into medical and welfare spending and sort out the refugees. Meanwhile as Afghanistan is no longer able to afford a war, our troops can come home. Everybody is happy.

In case you missed it on the news, or you are like my housemate and prefer watching Neighbours and Home & Away to anything with substance let me fill in a few gaps in the story.

Last Thursday at Ashmore Reef, off the coast of Western Australia a vessel carrying illegal immigrants exploded killing some, drowning others and then causing many remaining refugees to become a blight on Australian finances. Shortly before the explosion the boat had been boarded by Australian Naval officers who reported a disturbance on the vessel shortly before the explosion.

The Royal Australian Navy and the Australian government have denied causing the boat to blow up.

Was this an accident? Was it coincidental that the explosion happened almost immediately after being boarded by Australian military personnel? Could this have been a terrorist or Afghan military operation?

My point of view is that the Royal Australian Navy SHOULD have caused the explosion. When we see illegal entry vessels, we should aim a few torpedoes and demonstrate that we don’t want them here. Maybe we should fly a few fighter jets over the area and have some live fire training? Instead of killing two birds with one stone, we can kill 50-100 unwanted refugees with one missile.

Or maybe we should let anyone illegally immigrate to Australia without prejudice. Maybe we should open our borders, doors and gates and give these people the open arm welcome they are longing for. We aren’t talking about skilled workers that Australia has a shortage of. There are no doctors, teachers or engineers in their ranks. Of course we should let them move here.

Why don’t we just invite them all? What the Australian government should do is charter 900,000 jumbo jets and fly the 400 million foreign nationals that would jump at the opportunity to start a new life in Australia to our shores. Of course, there’ll be nothing left fighting for in Afghanistan and India, Pakistan and Indonesia will be all but deserted.

This might not be a bad plan after all. I have heard recently that Bali is becoming a little too busy. It might be nice to be able to visit Indonesia without all the Indonesians fervently trying to sell us a fake t-shirt or pair of sunglasses.

Or maybe we should just deprive the boat people of any medical treatment, give them some bottled water (maybe a litre or so) put them back on their raft and wave merrily goodbye as we send them back to whatever war-torn, miserable hole they crawled here from.

Feel free to disagree.

Joe

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