Have you ever noticed how good the conservatives are at using their own incompetence as a plus?
When they run public services badly, they use it as evidence that government can’t work as well as the private market.
When they run an authoritarian police state, they use it to bolster their libertarian supporters’ fears of oppressive government.
When their “tough on crime” or “tough on terror” policies don’t work and crime rises and we are more at risk of terrorist attacks, they use that as justification for MORE of these laws.
When they run a nasty, spiteful, intolerant government that discourages immigration (who’d want to go there?), they use that as an argument that they can keep our borders secure.
I just don’t know that the price the rest of us pay for them winning these arguments is entirely worth it.
Moved On 
“When they run a nasty, spiteful, intolerant government that discourages immigration (who’d want to go there?), they use that as an argument that they can keep our borders secure.”
Are you referring to Howards time at the helm here? If so then maybe you may want to check immigration stats for that period. They don’t match your description. At least for legal, authorised immigration anyway.
Got a link for that?
Not hard:
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/02key.htm
BTW, where are your links for all you claims above….or are you free just to editorialise as much as you want?
Seeing as you demanded as much from me?
That link just shows that net immigration continued in a fairly linear fashion through those years. There was a big drop in arrivals between 2001 and 2003, though – I wonder how much of that can be ascribed to Australia becoming a less attractive place to live under Howard?
In any case, Liberals boast that they reduced the number of people trying to come here by treating them badly when they arrived, which was my point.