Speculation continues surrounding more than 20 people missing after the boat they were travelling on capsized during a rescue operation off the Cocos Islands late last night.
So far at least 17 people have been rescued.
And as sketchy news continues to trickle through, Daily Telegraph readers weigh in. There are nineteen comments so far, here are some highlights:
SteveO of Sydney Posted at 8:09 AM Today:
It’ll be asylum seekers who most likely sunk the boat themselves so they can be brought to Australia… The government better not fall for this stunt!!
Mick of Nowra Posted at 9:21 AM Today:
My understanding is this boat was closer to Indonesia then Australia, so what are the Indonesian doing about this rescue why do we have to get involved when the indonesians are closer, their are laughing at Australia. When are we going to put a stop to these people coming to this country illegally.
A Ryan of adelaide Posted at 10:00 AM Today:
Of course the government will fall for this stunt, as usual they will be brought to christmas island before being quietly brought into Australia. The milky bar kid has lost control of the situation, border protection is now just a pathetic joke. Krudd get enough backbone and stop these parasites getting into this country. Increasing facilities on Christmas Island is not the answer,we dont want them. Send them straight back to theit country of origin and put a stop to this once and for all or be out of office
What now mr rudd of brisbane Posted at 10:04 AM Today:
At what point will rudd and gillard let their egos admit that they blundered badly in dismanling howards tough border deterants.? Presently our govt has no answers and whilst theyve hired costello to help them manage finances may i suggest getting howard in for a chat on border protection.
Matt Thompson of South Coast Posted at 11:54 AM Today:
Let’s get real and see it for what it is. It cost up to $15000 to get a ride on one of these boats. Last time I looked the average wage for a person living in Afghanistan or Sri lanka is around $1000 per year. If these people can afford to get their whole family onboard these boats then I would say they are not underprivileged and should buy a plane ticket and go through the proper application process. In saying that, maybe they cannot go through the proper application process due to the fact that they have obtained their money through illegal activities in their country of origin. The right to asylum that they seek has been brought on themselves and we donât need criminals from other countries here as we already have our fair share.
Darkie McMillan of southwest coast of WA Posted at 10:14 AM Today:
Tell someone who cares.
bill pappas of Kogarah Posted at 12:05 PM Today:
bad luck……….and how is that our responsibility
Stirring stuff.
7 Comments
I’m still not sure where the ‘comments’ trend began or why. It works on sites like Crikey where there are few enough commentators to follow a discussion or debate, but on major news websites its just an open forum for meaningless gibberish from noted scholars such as “what now mr. rudd of brisbane.”
There’s some of the usual suspect in the bunch. Serial haters who haunt the various comments streams.
They say worse then that at times :sigh:
Damn typo’s… can we please have a preview function?
If John Howard was responsible for Siev X… a boat that sank in INDONESIAN waters, than surely Kevin Rudd is personally responsible for killing 20 Boatpeople.
Anyways it wouldn’t surprise me if they boatpeople did in fact purposely sink their own boat, we have seen this behaviour before:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/asylum-boat-had-holes-drilled-in-hull-20091021-h911.html
So Daniel, there but for the grace of obscurity, elitism and esotericism goes Crikey?
Rudd has already missed one opportunity to stamp on xenophobia by trying to be too damn smart with the Oceanic Viking. Tough + humane= stupid. He’s inadvertently played into the hands of Ruddock, the Ghost that Walks, and John Winston Rodent. Rodent’s strained silence since his humiliation masks a fervent desire for revenge. Remember that Mr Rat led the anti-”asian” immigration campaign in the 1980s, long before Siev X and Children Overboard. Rat has form.
Who knows, Geoffrey Blainey may emerge from retirement too. Blainey started the 1980s Mexican wave of racism, remember? Yet everyone pretends this never happened. Pauline Hanson and Rodent could never have flourished without Blainey’s intellectual authority.
Rudd must act quickly to prevent a new racist-xenophobe movement from gathering momentum. It’s called leadership, you stunted nerd.
Pretty much, marce.
There are ways to facilitate discussion among large groups of people online. Well-moderated forums are an example. Forcing users to choose a permanent username is another.