phildobbie.com

The number of boats filled with asylum seekers has hit a new high this year, but it’s just a small part of the refugee issue. And it shouldn’t influence the debate about population and what it means for our economy.

Five or six thousand people arriving by boat seeking asylum seems like a large number. The highest number before 2010 was 4,175, back in 1999. Howard’s solution stopped the arrivals in their tracks, with only 82 arrivals in three years in the early part of the decade.

My hairdresser arrived by boat. Originally from Iran, he paid a people smuggler and made the final crossing overnight from Indonesia (a transit-lounge with a very small refugee intake, incidentally). But boat arrivals are still only a proportion of the total number who seek asylum in this country. According to UNHCR figures 22,500 sought asylum in Australia last year.

Read the full article (with graphs and the predictable responses) on BNET.com