The boat people heading for the haven of the Great Southern Land are usually sent on their way by Indonesian authorities, who gladly accept money for turning a blind eye and enjoy watching the political issues it creates in Australia.
And they are big issues.
Some folk say "take them in", others say they are queue jumpers.
I explained it to my daughter this way. If someone wants to come into your house and you don't want them to, should they be allowed to anyway?
She said it was different. But it isn't, in my view.
There is a process for immigration and that must be adhered to, otherwise legitimate refugees doing the right thing by going through the official process will be pushed down the list and countless more people will risk death to make the journey.
Now in the past, people smuggling hasn't been a major issue for New Zealand but just-revealed tapes show people smugglers are offering trips to New Zealand for those wanting a new country.
For $17,000 they will pack them up in containers for the Kiwi trip and have described it as a "cruise ship option".
It is a major worry as keeping them at bay is very expensive - as Canberra knows - and New Zealand's defence forces would not be able to cope with them.
Plus if they land, these queue jumpers will have to be housed and looked after here at taxpayers' expense.
You can guarantee there will be barge-fulls of lawyers eager to make a lot of money representing these illegal immigrants in the courts, trying to get them to stay. You'll be paying for that too.
Our Government must deal with the boat people threat as a matter of urgency and be prepared to stop them either at the source, or on the water.
As a chap who believes that people should be allowed to have their own views on things even I am gobsmacked by the ability of Saudi Arabian men to repress women. These guys follow a hardline version of Islam called Wahabbism. Women are expected to be subservient to guys. According to Wahabbism if women were to drive then the whole fabric of Saudi society would unravel.
Saudi women took a very small journey towards equality over the weekend when 60 of them risked punishment by taking to the roads in cars - presumably Rolls-Royces and other luxury motors - and drove around the kingdom.
Nothing much happened to them and - much to the surprise of Saudi chaps - the kingdom continued as normal, the sky stayed in the sky and the world did not end. No doubt that will happen when they give Saudi women the vote in 2015.
Did anyone else do a double take when authorities had to do a DNA test on a young blonde girl to make sure her parents were not the Roma couple she was living with?
The Greek gypsies - as they are known in un-PC terms - were swarthier than a sunbaked Swarth and had about as much chance of producing a blonde kid as I have of fathering an octopus.
But the authorities had to go through the pretence, no doubt at some cost to an already impoverished Government.
You'll be pleased to know that the kid's real parents - a Romanian couple - had abandoned her while working in Greece and now want her back.
Be interesting to see if the authorities are crazy enough to allow such a move.
Richard Moore is an award-winning Western Bay journalist and photographer.
