The new Australian government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott is taking another stab at solving the problem of a steady stream of “boat people” economic refugees. Canberra is offering the asylum-seekers “return packages” of up to $10,000 each, payable when they get home. Successive Canberra governments of all political stripes have struggled for years to find a solution to the problem of asylum-seekers, who come mostly from Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Burma. The refugees are kept outside Australia in detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru while their applications are processed.
