Dave R, your argument is futile because it is wrong. Here are the facts:
The Pacific Solution was highly successful in its goal of reducing the amount of illegal entrants arriving in the Australian waters by boat. Arrivals dropped from a total of 5516 people in 2001 to only 1 arrival in all of 2002 after implementation of the policy. The low level of boat arrivals continued all the way through the Pacific Solution period. Since the abolition of the policy there has been a sharp increase in boatpeople arrivals with over 2700 boatpeople arriving in 2009 alone.[4][5]
During the Pacific Solution period, the Howard Government was able to begin closing detention centres due to the lower number of unauthorised arrivals. Christmas Island detention centre was built and finished during the Pacific Solution but was never opened by the Howard Government due to the very low level of arrivals. Baxter, Woomera and Curtin detention centres were all closed during the Pacific Solution. The Labor government opened Christmas Island detention centre late 2008 after a wave of boatpeople, and has since expanded facilities accommodation there, importing donga's from the Northern Territory
