Consistently inconsistent

The Gillard Govt's response to those refugees seeking asylum is to lock them up (mandatory detention) and export them to Malaysia. The Abbott led opposition has a similar policy except that they prefer to send them to Nauru. The High Court has ruled that these actions are invalid as they are a breach of Australia's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which it is a signatory.

The Gillard Govt has been scathing of the High Court saying that the judge was inconsistent.

"The current Chief Justice of the High Court, his Honour Mr Justice French, considered comparable legal questions when he was a judge of the Federal Court and made different decisions to the one the High Court made yesterday.”

In this respect both the Govt and the Opposition are united, the High Court has ruled that their policies on refugee detention are unlawful.

In an odd twist both Gillard and Abbott have again become united on the issue of mandatory detention in foreign lands, this time regarding the arrest of an Australian teenager in Bali. It was reported that Prime Minister Gillard spoke with the boy by phone assuring him that the Australian government was doing everything we could to help him whilst opposition leader Tony Abbott said that in this instance the govt's actions were right and proper.

There is absolutely nothing right and proper about indefinite detention and deportation for those lawfully seeking asylum.