How many of these tragedies has to happen, that the Australian Immigration department will come up with a policy which will put a stop to these tragedies, and people die in the sea?

Each time such a tragedy occurs, there are lots of publicity and discussions, within the Australian government, the opposition and the community, about the Refugees in general and specially the Boat people.

However, when those days are over, then the boat people and their tragedies are forgotten until the next tragedy happens.

I remember in Feb. 2002, when Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in New York. I was with President Karzai in that meeting, when Mr Howard put up his proposal to make a repatriation payment to those Afghans, who came by boat and lost their battle to stay in Australia. At the end of that meeting, it was agreed that a ministerial delegation would visit to discuss this issue, and find the right way to resolve the Afghan boat people problem with the Australian side.

Several Afghan ministerial visits were made to Australia including the recent one. All these visits and discussions have not found the right strategy which could bring an end to the Afghan people coming to Australia by boats.

In December 2010, seeing the images of the incident on television and reading it on papers is heart breaking. To see the loss of lives of innocent men, women and children, who were looking for better life and escaping, either from wars or dysfunctional governments.

In Australia, once there was Nauru as a safe haven, as claimed by the then Australian prime minister, Mr Howard's government "Pacific Solution'' remember Refugees-including children reportedly jump overboard, after their fishing vessel was intercepted by HMAS Adelaide Feb. 2002. Now the current Prime Minister Gillard's government thinks that the East Timor solution will bring an end to the boat people and their tragedies.

The Immigration Department claims that it has done all their best to bring an end to the boat people's problem. The fact is that, whatever they have done, has not been effective so far.

What the current Australian government has to do is to come up with strong and realistic, refugees and special humanitarian policies so it can be effective to stop people coming to Australia by boat.

Following are some points which should be considered by the Australian Immigration Department.

1-There has to be Compassion, for many genuine refugees, hoping to lead new lives in this country.

First of all the refugees and special humanitarian intake has to be boasted for Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Sri lanka, these are the countries which 99% of the boat people are coming from, into Australia.

I am sure once these refugees know that they can come to Australia through a legal channel, then they would not take the extreme way by paying approximately $15000 to human smugglers to get here.

Here in Australia those people who cannot bring their family members or close relatives legally, would be lending money to some of those people to come by boat. Once these people are accepted as permanent residents, then they can pay back the money.

2-The smugglers' nests are in Pakistan and in Sri Lanka. Those boat people coming from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan are recruited by smugglers in Pakistan and those from Sri Lanka are in Sri Lanka.

Then there is this network of partnership and cooperation between these two groups, the Indonesian and Malaysian smugglers.

The smugglers do not tell the boat people that the tragedies and deaths are part of the trips into Australia, or it can be a life-threatening journey.

They are told that they would be Okay until they get to Indonesia, and from there they will be taken to Australia by boat which will take only two or three nights.

3-For the Australian government to capture the smugglers, the Immigration Department will have to discuss this problem with the governments of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia, and seek assistance from them about the smugglers, and how they can be captured.

4-Australian Immigration Department should look into a direct campaign through the media and short television adds to be screened in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Indonesia. These ads should be addressed to the people who are intending to come to Australia by boat. It should tell that it is a dangerous and life-threatening trip to Australia going by boat. It should tell how many people have lost their lives in the past 10 years going to Australia by boat. They must make it clear that even if people arrived safely by boat, they will not be accepted easily to remain in Australia, and can be sent back to the country of origin.

5-Australian Prime Minister Gillard's government should organise a regional ministerial conference in Australia. The aim of the conference should be finding the right way of putting an end to people coming into Australia by boats. Representatives of those countries whose citizens are coming to Australia by boat should also be invited; after all it is also a matter of national security.

Abdul Khaliq Fazal is the President of Afghan Australian Association of Victoria. He has been the Former Minister of Public Works in Afghanistan and A former Advisor to Afghan President, Hamid Karzai.