In 2008, Australia had 161 boat people arrive.

ozboats

In 2008, Australia had 4750 applications for asylum submitted.

ozboatsvaaps

In 2008, France, the UK and Italy combined had 96,870 applications for asylum submitted.

franituk

In 2008, 51 industrialised countries participating in the UNHCR statistics program had 382,670 applications for asylum submitted.

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In 2008, there were approximately 827,000 asylum applications submitted across the globe

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In 2008, there were approximately 15.2 million forcibly displaced refugees around the world

refugees

Yesterday we had SBY address our Parliament – the leader of a country of 230 million people, heading a democratic government that struggles with serious economic and social development issues everyday. He was here to talk about development cooperation, security and intelligence sharing and international economic partnership in the forums of global power to boost living standards and enhance the social and economic ties between our two nations.

What did we bang on about?

Boat people.