Scott Morrison has claimed his policies are saving taxpayers $2.5 billion ("Rally condemns asylum policy", Leader, June 24).
However, Martin Bowles, Secretary of the Department of Immigration, stated in Parliament that processing of asylum seekers in Australia costs 20 per cent of the amount required to process someone offshore (Hansard, Senate Estimates, 27-28 May 2013).
The minister also says turning back the boats is saving lives at sea.
This does nothing to address the reasons why refugees flee in the first place, such as the terrible ongoing ethnic killings in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
As Phil Glendenning from the Edmund Rice Centre said at this year's Sydney Palm Sunday rally: "This policy is not about saving lives at sea, it's about saying 'go and die somewhere else'."
Finally, Mr Morrison inferred that the protesters were from outside the shire, and yes, many did come from wider Sydney to protest these federal government policies.
However, I arrived on the ferry along with 19 others from Bundeena and met many other friends from the shire at the event.
Alexander McRae, Bundeena
