The Refugee Crisis

We have been told for years by the Liberal Party that we have a refugee crisis.  They blame the Labor Party for "rolling out the welcome mat" and "being a people smugglers best friend".  All of this rhetoric is designed for political purposes only.  To drum up fear of the "invasion" what ever that is.  To tell them to get to the back of the line.  To tell them to go back to places like this -

And these are the nice pictures!

Would you wanna stay here for years?  Surely we can get above the base politics and show a little more compassion.  

According to the Refugee Council of Australia from 1975 to Dec 2012 we have had 48,856 people arrive by boat.  Hardly an invasion.  (0.02 % of our population or 0.0006% of our population per year)

Instead of buying boats we should process asylum applications in Indonesia within short time frames and take genuine refugees.  This would stop the need for perilous boat journeys.  

Although the rhetoric says otherwise the flood gates are not open.  This is the safest and most humane solution.