Hey there,
Given all the stuff that has been going on in the news people may have missed this one. So I thought I would draw attention to it.
Did you know that on Tuesday, April 17th, the US and Australia signed an agreement to exchange asylum seekers? So if you are fleeing persecution and you get on a boat to head to Australia (since you believe they may want to help you since they claim to believe in democracy and a 'fair-go for all'), you could end up in the US. That's right. These two migrant-loving countries have agreed to swap asylum seekers.
So Howard said, "It is part of our policy to reinforce the message to those who would engage in people smuggling that this country has a very tough border protection policy," (Squires, Nick, April 19th, 2007, "U.S. To Exchange Asylum Seekers With Australia", Daily Telegraph).
On a, I believe, somewhat related note, the Australian government is gearing up to open a new 800 bed detention centre on Christmas Island. We knew they were gearing up for something.
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