They are economic refugee's even Bob Carr admitted this. They are not being persecuted in Indonesia and majority of them aren't even from Indonesia.
The majority of countries around the world are third world crapholes. Even the so-called stable ones are dangerous places. Corruption and lawlessness is the norm. I mentioned before, a work colleague who I met from Sao Paulo told me he needs to live in a suburb surrounded by a security wall to protect his home and family.
Indonesia isn't a signatory to the UN refugee convention. So yes not being Indonesian means they are in limbo in Indonesia - they are unable to return to their country of origin; they can't settle in Indonesia lawfully even if they wished to; and they have little prospect of being resettled in a third country. The people smugglers avoid official Indonesian immigration channels anyway as they falsely promise safe passage to Australia (in return for $$$) before the asylum seekers reach Indonesia.
The vast majority of asylum seekers that come by boat to Australia are eventually given refugee status and are settled in Australia. It's just our Governments don't want the public knowing about that for political reasons. Both parties only introduced "tough" measures in the face of poor polls prior to an upcoming election (Coalition 2001; Labor 2013).
Labor policy's encouraged people to pay smugglers and risk their lives. Their policy's will never look good because whether you like it or not the majority of Australian public don't want people smugglers controlling our immigration. Currently Abbott is looking tough by standing up for our sovereignty and doing what he was voted in to do to and that is to stop the boats.
For the record I don't think the boats will ever be stopped. The ALP encouraged so many people to attempt to cross the water that it will now be near impossible to fully stop but if they can at least cut back the number of boat arrivals that would be a good result.
The boats started coming in these numbers under the Howard Government in 1999. There was no asylum issue to deal with when Labor was in power for 13 years before Johnny aside from introducing mandatory detention in the early 90s when a few hundred Chinese asylum seekers arrived post-Tiananmen square massacre. So to blame Labor for why people are coming by boat in these numbers is ludicrous. Labor didn't cause a civil war in northern Sri Lanka or in Sudan, nor a ultra-conservative theocratic dictatorship in Iran with its fruitcake leader, nor rogue states and war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, etc. As Gigantor says, when people in these places have the required economic prosperity and individual freedoms then the boats will stop, be it when there's a Australian Labor or Liberal Government. The refugee problem is a global one. Most first world nations face increasing number of asylum seekers; not just Australia.
