australian's will riot in the streets soon, page-22

Aussies are more likely to riot
over an umpire making a bad
State of Origin decision than
over Abbott or Rudd being
dishonest with voters.

But 100 refugees a day arriving in leaky
boats may cause some extremists on
both sides or politics to agitate for
extreme solutions for refugees.

My view is refugees are desperate Do Or Die
people who will risk everything to seek a
safe haven from vicious regimes at home.

When New South Wales was founded it was
a harsh and lonely outpost in which rum
provided the only relief for marines,
convicts, and free settlers. But so
much British currency was being
sent to Bengal to buy rum that
the British Government sent
Captain William Bligh to
enforce Prohibition.

Bligh was overthrown in the Rum Rebellion
of 1808. So the British Government sent a
canny Scot Lachlan Macquarie to NSW as
its Governor. Macquarie legalised rum
smuggling and taxed it. He converted
a huge enforcement cash outflow
into a revenue stream that built
Sydney Hospital and many
other public works.

Hence my proposal for people smuggling:
Legalise it and tax it. That will save lives
and convert a huge enforcement cash
outflow into a revenue stream that
is used on one 737 a day to bring
100 refugees to Australia a day,
vet them for terror or criminal
links and resettle them and
run English courses.

Let Lachlan Macquarie's solution prevail.
Prohibiting refugees (like prohibiting
drugs) puts up the price and makes
smuggling more profitable. But
legalising people smuggling
cuts the cost and provides
a revenue stream to the
Government, not to
foreign criminals.

Planes are the best way to stop the boats.