Whew! I'm near exhausted after reading Worral's carefully considered post! Try cleaning that up a bit, Worrals, and post it on Tim Blair's or Bolta's blogs.
I think the one big difference between the many overstayers and the irregular arrivals is the one CFI has already pointed out - an overstayer lives among us, making a living (perhaps holding down a job that might have gone to an Australian, but at least supporting him/herself).
An irregular arrival, on the other hand, is usually a forward scout for his extended family, the first of ten or more he/she will bring out under the family reunion scheme - and, if the report released last year is to be believed, he/she and the nine or ten who'll follow him/her into the country, in four cases out of five, will all still be firmly sucking on the public teat five years (and who knows how many years afterwards?) after 'irregularly' arriving here.
The elephant in the room, (make that 'the mammoth'), that David Manne, Sarah Hansen-Young and co. never address, is, (unlike the vast majority of overstayers), how many of these irregular arrivals have no ability - and even more importantly, no intention - of ever fitting in to our society except to know intimately the inner workings of the CentreLink system. They arrive and, to the very best of their ability, set about re-creating the society they 'escaped' from within Australian society - and demanding that Australia and Australians roll over and comply.
Some will recall that the father of the little Somali (now Australian) girl mauled to death by a pit bull terrier last week was back in Somalia 'visiting' when his child was attacked. Has any journo asked how long he'd been back in Somalia 'visiting'? (You know, Somalia, the country that was so dangerous for him that he had to escape from it with his family.)
I've heard of cases like this on many occasions, where Dad returns home to take up his business again after depositing the family in Oz, where Mum, with none or minimal English, remains with the kids. (And, five will get you ten, NOT relying totally on Dad to send funds from the old country every fortnight to survive!)
Another report last year said that 80% - eighty ***ing percent!!!! - of Tamils given permanent residency in Australia after escaping persecution in Sri Lanka return there for a visit within 12 months of receiving Australian residency.
TPVs really need to be re-introduced.