Click this link for VIDEO: Abbott 'Some migrants resist equality'
TONY Abbott has suggested some recent migrants oppose equality and Australians are anxious that citizenship is given away too lightly, but insisted "boat people" are only "guilty of hope".Mr Abbott has used an Australia Day Council address in Melbourne to raise controversial immigration issues and suggest he favours more migration to Australia to boost our population.
He stood by Howard-era tough lines against so-called boat people, but urged opponents of immigration to try to understand the desperation that prompts their journeys.
"Why wouldn't people who might otherwise wait in camps for years try to short-circuit the process, especially if they're plausibly told that getting to Australia means the beginning of a new life?" Mr Abbott said in his speech.
"At worst, boat people are guilty of choosing hope over fear."
Soon after his election as Liberal leader late last year, Mr Abbott vowed to turn back boat arrivals.
He attacked the Rudd Government's border protection measures, saying that while people smugglers were the main villains, governments which allowed desperate people to think that getting on a boat might be a short cut to permanent residency would not be blameless.
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