Julia Gillard quickly adopted Tony Abbott's plan to process asylum seekers offshore - because it has the " out of sight - out of mind " factor.
It is clear that the steady stream of refugee claimants arriving on our shores is a vote loser that would have a profound effect on voting intentions at the coming election - so now both sides of politics has adopted the " quick fix " solution.
Tony Abbott has the advantage that processing asylum seekers in Nauru has the approval of that island's government, while Julia Gillard may strike trouble negotiating such a scheme with the government of East Timor.
Nauru and East Timor are both in desperate need of industry, and setting up migrant detention and processing centres will create jobs for locals - and ensure a steady income stream. In the case of Nauru - the centre is already up and running - hence Abbott's proposal has the advantage.
What is new is the condition that new arrivals who have destroyed all forms of identification will not be even considered for residence, but immediately moved offshore.
The whole point of engaging a " people smuggler " to get to Australia was the notion that once they arrived here they jumped the queue - and their status would be decided sooner than those waiting in camps elsewhere for classification.
Once the incentive to pay money for illegal passage is removed - the people smugglers are put out of business - and the boat arrivals stop.
And that is precisely what the voters demand !
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