Evidence based.........well that's you opinion but bear in mind, I'm a lot closer to the issue than you think..........
as for today tonight et al, absolute carp and I don't watch 'em.
Have no issues with people trying to get true asylum however....................How is it that they can afford to PAY someone to SMUGGLE them into Australia?
Oh, and another thing, why is the majority of these supposed "seekers" male? I know as a family man, the first and formost for me would be sending my wife and kids away from coflict etc rather than myself........

Hi Doc
Apologies for being a little aggressive earlier.
People who seek asylum are not routinely poor so paying someone is not really an issue. I have friends who escaped Iran when the shah was exiled. They were Bahai and were genuinely being persecuted and left through the darkness of night. They actually had some time to prepare as they could see it coming politically and liquidated their assets. The kids had gold in the lining of their clothes and the parents carried diamonds they could swallow if they needed to. They hid through the day and then travelled at night until they got to Iraq and I cant remember how they ended up here. But the point is that they had a fair bit of money to get them through.
I imagine that if push came to shove I and I had to genuinely escape Australia I could put my hand on sufficient money to pay my way somewhere. And of course I would use it. Keep in mind they are coming from Indonesia and if you are caught in Indonesia you are jailed for between 6months and 2 years. It is simply a corrupt country so many transit through it. I wonder what you or I would do if we were in their position. We have money to transit so we dont need to take the chance of getting locked up or going into one of their camps where you are slowly bled of money due to the corruption. It's not a simple yes no answer as anything is in life. There is also no queue to line up in but THERE BLOODY WELL SHOULD BE!.
As for the single male issue, in many instances it is the male of the family that is targeted or at risk in their own country. The Hazara are a perfect example. It is rare for women and children to be killed but males often. The other issue is that poorer families pool money to get the son or father out on the hope they will make it and arrange for the rest to come later.
Dont get me wrong here, I am not a bleeding heart greens supporter. I understand the law and get the darks when our country blatantly screws with it for political gain. Our defence force is not a police force/immigration service. Their role should simply be the protection of our borders against THREAT. There is no threat from asylum seekers. Other than a possible health issue dealt with through quarantine there is no threat.
The defence force need only determine a threat and in the event that there is no threat it becomes a police/dimia issue.
My views on this softened after I arranged the deportation of a family of Hazara from Devonport to Baxter and back to Afghanistan. I have written of this before. This fella knew he was going home to die. You could see it in his eyes. He had a lovely family. Four kids, two in school. He worked at the meatworks in Longford and asked nothing of our Government except our protection.
He had made his claims but Dimia determined he was not at risk despite being a Hazara who are at risk so had to return. We chatted for about an hour while the private charter jet was prepared (I kid you not a private charter). Which just chatted about our families and life in general. He had a govt job in his country but lost that when the govt changed. As he left he shook my hand and thanked me for my time and wished my family well. (If anyone is still reading this read it again.) I doubt anyone here would shake the hand of the prick sending them back to at the very least a poor future.
Of course there are exceptions and there are people using the system. But they get caught once they are here anyway. If they cant prove their grounds for asylum they go to detention until it is dealt with. Many do destroy their documents on the way and some do it at the suggestion of the smugglers. But many do it simply to stay alive. If you are a Tamil or a Hazara you do not want to get caught with your real name on anything. Funny thing is that if you look at the history of Scotland their people did a similar thing when the civil war was on and would adopt the local clan name. So a Campbell would become a McDonald simply to stay alive.
cheers
Daz