Australia owns its citizens

[the shark hunter]

... what can you tell us about christmas island?  i hear it's a concentration camp ...

[Bricktop]

No. Its a refugee camp.



Refugees are not permitted to enter the country.



If they are caught, they are transferred to facilities on Christmas Island, where their processing takes place.



This is to distance them from Australian legal resources that may try to lodge appeals and choke up the legal system.



If they are genuine, they get a visa. If they are not, they are invited to catch the next plane out.

[Anonymous]

No. Its a refugee camp.



Refugees are not permitted to enter the country.



If they are caught, they are transferred to facilities on Christmas Island, where their processing takes place.



This is to distance them from Australian legal resources that may try to lodge appeals and choke up the legal system.



If they are genuine, they get a visa. If they are not, they are invited to catch the next plane out.

How long does the process usually take?

[Bricktop]

Can take a year, perhaps more...but that's usually in the case of people who cannot establish their bona fides.



Many leave before their application results are made known...these are the illegals who know they are simply queue jumpers and will be rejected.

[Anonymous]

No. Its a refugee camp.



Refugees are not permitted to enter the country.



If they are caught, they are transferred to facilities on Christmas Island, where their processing takes place.



This is to distance them from Australian legal resources that may try to lodge appeals and choke up the legal system.



If they are genuine, they get a visa. If they are not, they are invited to catch the next plane out.

It's a better way of handling refugees than what we got. Ours is not as effective at weeding out queue jumpers.

[Bricktop]

Well, more than one other European nation has looked at our system and argued its the best around. The British Prime Minister for a start.



We do have an advantage though.



We're an island. We can easily place refugees off shore and beyond the reach of the do-gooders who want them all allowed access, and then we sort the good from the bad.



However, we don't do Christmas Island any more, as that was deemed an Australian territory.



Now they go to Papua New Guinea. A sovereign nation, whom we pay to keep the rats in cages until we can identify the claims with merit from the majority of illegal queue jumpers.



For some reason, many of these "refugees" prefer to go from whence they came than be accommodated in the Papuan tropical paradise. Frankly, so would I. Papuans are not known for their kind disposition to malefactors.