Fortress Australia?

A great science fiction book, 1632, teaches an important lesson in the modern age. In the book, a small West Virginian town is sent back to 1632 into the middle of Germany in the Thirty-Years War. After they discover what has occured, they have two choices as to how to proceed: they can shelter in their tiny town behind machine guns and checkpoints, keeping out refugees and armies alike, or they can expand, welcome the refugees into their town and do their best to deal with the armies as they come. He who is well fed is less likely to join an army. You can see the motivation behind both choices, but really, which one do you want to choose?

Australia can hide behind "Migration Excise Zones" and "Immigration Security", send anyone who looks funny into "detention" camps, and cower from the terrorist threat, or we can welcome the refugees into our nation and watch the terrorists lose their support base as they decide that being well-fed is more important than bringing down the wrath of Allah upon the Great Satan of the West. And a similar thing could be said for America.

A quote from Steven Baxter sums it up nicely "To survive, humanity must do more than just survive."