No, they are not refugees. Not most of them.
And yes Australians are being too nice to them. Settle them within Australia, process their claims, give most of them a visa to remain in Australia, all of which at the cost of tax payers.
The existence of boat people does no come with no cost, in contrast to them, legal immigrants (skilled or business) are being squeezed every year with the hurdle to migrate to Australia setting higher and higher. If only they had known there's a quick way!
Conditions for skilled immigrants to get permanent residence: Study in Australia for at least two years (at expensive international student rates and if it wasn't a TAFE it usually takes more than 2 years to finish) and get a tertiary degree/certificate which is approved by immigration and skill assessment bodies of the specific fields, IELTS all bands 7 or even 8 (out of 9), 1 year of professional work experience if they're not in the most urgently needed fields such as engineering and medicine.
Conditions for business immigrants to get permanent residence: Invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to own an Australian business which hires at least two full time employees with permanent residence or citizenship in Australia, generate an annual revenue of tens of thousands of dollars for at least 2 years.
Conditions for boat people to get permanent residence: A ticket for the boat, show their fear of their home country and stay in a refugee camp for 2 years doing nothing but waiting with everything paid for.
This is not only unfair but also unjust to skilled and business migrants. If the boat people were refugees then they have every right to be treated that way, but before they are cleared of that status they should not. It's not war time in those countries that these people come from and I believe there are plenty of operational UN organizations in those countries that are more than happy to help genuine refugees out of their country.
And what sort of migrants should Australia take in? Educated people with the skills to generate revenues and pay tax? Rich people who invests and keeps Australian economy thriving? Or people with 10 kids each who suck up welfare and sit there doing nothing?
Think about it.
