I am sure its possible but I think its also dangerous.

Let me give you another example. Every day about 1000 people or so, try to make it to Spain from Africa on boats. They are headed for the Canary Islands. I have heard that out of those 1000 about 300-400 make it.

Their situation is so desperate, that they are willing to put up with these odds for a chance at a better life. If they are caught (most of them are), they are often just send back, since Europe cannot take them all in.

Even worse, they will have spent all they own and maybe even taken credits on future earnings to pay the smugglers for a fare. Here are some pictures:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/5335062.stm

There are always reports of people from Cuba who made it on a small boat to the US. If they are caught out at sea, they will also be sent back.

The coast guards in Europe, USA and I think Australia will be trying to catch most of them.

I'd say the chances of you actually making it are very slim. You may die or you will be caught.

Andre

i think its not so difficult, water is quite flat between south papua new guinea and north australia, there are a lot of small islands and sandbanks in between. if you check this area out at google maps and look for the best route for island hopping, you find out that the greatest challenge is only one 10km distance of seawater to cross, the other island are quite close together (1-5km).

(i assume you are already at badu island or moa island :) ) 

It can be done but becareful as a lot of  boat people are being caught in put into the Australia Detention Centre. This would not be a nice thing to happen.

Being caught is not really nice to happen. :)

I think many really were able to do this because I didn't hear this from only one person here in our place.
It is really possible but of course you are going to bear the consequences. People do this so desperately coz it is hard to get an Australian Visa. You need to have skills, money, have to pass their point system and their interview.

Believe me, being caught may not be as bad as having to live in some of the places they come from and being able to survive illegaly in Australia may be easier than being able to survive in a normal fashion in their own countries.

I think I can relate to why people take the chances. The rewards (living in Australia) will probably justify all the risks.

Andre

Travel Photos

 alot of people are willing to risk there life moving from very poor countries on very unsafe boats to larger countries such as the usa and Spain, is it worth it, to them it living in a richer country even at the bottom is better than living in there country.  i was watching a program about Asylum seeker over here and this young boy who was smuggled to the uk said he would rather spend his life getting up at 4 am and walking the street all day and hiding from custom officers, rather than returning to Afghanistan.

I am glad that you people here understand the plight of citizens from third world countries.

In some forums that I have joined, they readily look down on the foreigners who did cross and risked their lives just to be able to reach the US from Mexico. They just don't understand that these people won't risk their lives for nothing. They had lots of negative things to say to them and yet most of them exploit these natives, too. Only from them can you hire hardworking people doing all the lowly jobs at a meager price.

Its noones fault to be born in a certain country and noone is better just because of their country of origin. People forget this. They are proud to be *** and they completely forget that it wasn't them who made their country great.

People should be proud of their accomplishments, not their origin.

That said, I can always understand if someone wants to make the best out of a situation. Its like cards, if you have a bad hand and make the best out of it, kudos to you. Not everyone is born in a rich country and most peole have to fight hard to be able to feed their families.

On the other hand I can also understand why countries don't just open their borders. Europe would be overrun by Africa in a week, US by Mexico and Central America ....

Its the same reasoning you have a fence around your property.

Its a problem of distribution of wealth. The world is corrupt and poor.

Andre

Travel Photos

i dont think that it is a good thing to do this jobs at the lowes possible wage. if you let all the bad job do 2$ cheaper by some mexicans then some americans dont get this jobs -> have no money -> cant buy YOUR stuff and must try to find some cheap products instead, something with a "made in china" label on it (probaby dosnt brings you or your employee any money), unhealty junkfood etc.

its nothing agains mexicans (just an example), but if you say "my workers are to expensive, i hire some who does the work for 5$/hour" this can become a large problem just because the jobs of all this unskilled 10$/hour workers (or whatever the lowest legal wage is) are in danger then, and all this people can only spent (=bring the money back into the economic circle) what they earn. think about how much people earn and spent on rent/food/energy in mexico, how they live and compare this with the usa.

Very good point.

This is exactly what is happening right now with all the outsourcing to cheap labor countries. Eventually noone will be able to buy the products anymore.

Shareholders and top executives are shortsighted and give away the technology in the hope to safe a few dollars. What they haven't realized yet is the loss of technology. China isn't exactly know for their copyright protection laws. Intellectual property is being stolen on a frequent basis, ruining the very foundation many countries are built upon.

As a reward top executives get millions and shareholders get short term gains. Eventually it will ruing the economy and the companies.

BUT: This is not something that is being caused by low wage and immigrants. It is caused by greedy executives who can't get enough. Noone says they cannot pay the immigrants the same wage. They are simply abusing the situation these people are in.

Instead of blaming Immigrants, people should blame the executives. They however undestand how to manipulate common perception to the point that everyone blames the immigrants.

Andre

Travel Photos

I understand why people from some countries would want to come to live here in Australia as we are one of the lucky countries. But it is getting hard for they are really cracking down on boat people and what not here. So at the moment there is only a small chance that you would get into Australia with out any problems.

Considering the heritage of Countries such as Australia and the United States it is hard to believe how the are protecting their borders these days.

The USA is actually going to built a fence to Mexico.

I always thought Australia is not populated as dense as other countries.

reminds me of the Berlin Wall....

Not really. I don't think they will shoot people for trying to cross the border and its not dividing a nation either.

Also the Berlin Wall was built to keep people in, while this fence will be built to keep people out.

Andre

Travel Photos

It's really sad to see all the people in the detention centres over here. You would think we could live in a happier world. But I suppose some of them would think they are living a great life in the detention centres compared to where they have come from.

South Korea is planning to use battle droids to "protect" their borders:

Here is a description of the robot: here

Sometimes I wonder what this world has come to when we allow robots to shoot humans. Based on simple classification systems and sub standard intelligence people will die in a quest to seek a better life for themselves?

Andre

Photography

Huh. I guess they should all watch the Terminator movies. I just hope they can pull the plug fast enough (unlike the guys in the movie).