The Wire

A new coalition TV ad shows Tony Abbott calling for stronger measures on Illegal Immigration, over an image of large red arrows descending toward Australia from the North. The Greens say the ad is a clear case of Xenophobia, but so far the government is yet to respond to the coalition’s call for stronger action on refugees. And the government may not be willing to take the coalition to task over its scare campaign tactics on the refugee issue. Fairfax journalist David Marr has revealed to The Wire a snippet of a conversation he had had recently with the Kevin Rudd, in which The prime minister indicated his view that contesting the nation’s fears about refugees was impossible.