The asylum seeker issue is another area where Australia continues to incur reputational damage. Numerically, the problem is comparatively small from an international perspective. Politically, the problem is disproportionately large. For the BBC, this is not a numbers story, but a reaction story. A boatload of, say, 37 Sri Lankan asylum seekers is never our headline. Rather, it is the Pavlovian response to each new boat arrival from both sides of politics that gives us our story.
Were there more news around or were the economy in worse shape, perhaps the problem would not loom so large. The press and the politicians would have others things to hyperventilate about. On a number of levels, then, the boat people issue is what might be called a successful nation problem.
"— the insightful Nick Bryant, former BBC Sydney Correspondent, on his final days covering Australian news.
