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Rights and wrongs

Barry Burling, GirrawheenWanneroo Times

This showed humanitarian compassion for life regardless of the ethnic backgrounds of those involved.

On the other hand, I am dismayed that no Indonesian vessel came to the aid of this stricken vessel and am appalled that they would not accept the rescued people back when the Australian Navy sought permission to return the people to where they came from.

The government of Indonesia must wake up to themselves as they show complete contempt of Australian sovereignty and disregard the basic humanitarian request.

However, when questioned about what they are doing to deter the people smugglers, they quickly fall back on their sovereign rights.

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At the same time, the Australian Government showed how weak they are by kowtowing to the unreasonable demands of the Indonesian government, and now have become Indonesia’s puppets when dealing with people smugglers.

I am wondering how much money is being collected by the people smugglers and what percentage of this money is given to local authorities who appear to turn a blind eye to this inhumane act.

As for the Prime Minister’s promise that ‘we will stop the boats’, it is not going to happen as long as there are corrupt officials in Indonesia.