Sydney IMC: Firefighters demanded action on climate change from politicians in Canberra on November 19 while much of south eastern Australia sweltered and suffered with temperatures well above 30 degrees. Many regions were declared severe, extreme or catastrophic fire danger.

Once again we are witnessing a public hysteria building about asylum seeker boat people seeking the safety of a new home in Australia. A new report ‘Behind Australian Doors: Examining the Conditions of Detention of Asylum Seekers in Indonesia’ (PDF) describes poor conditions across many Indonesian immigration detention facilities. Produced by lawyer and refugee advocate Jessie Taylor, the report highlights cramped conditions, grossly inadequate hygiene and sanitation, rodent infestations, inadequate and inappropriate food, polluted water, and a lack of medical care available to asylum seekers. Pitifully few people from these camps are selected for resettlement in Australia with an average of 50 people per year achieving resettlement.

Related: Behind Australian Doors Blog | Help bust the asylum seeker myths on Melbourne Cup day | Tell Kevin Rudd: respect refugees’ rights

The 25% cut in the Australian quota for Southern Bluefin Tuna has been described by the Wilderness Society as a step in the right direction, but the cut is too little too late with the fish species teetering close to the edge of extinction. The Quota reduction was made in an agreement at the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna meeting in South Korea in October 2009. The fish was listed in 1996 as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Related: Papua New Guinea tuna factories threaten regional ecology, livelihoods

They make up less than four per cent of people who come to Australia seeking asylum, yet never fail to generate an astonishing political and media storm.

So here are some facts: more than 96 per cent of asylum seekers arriving in Australia step off planes, not boats. Furthermore, the vast majority of boat arrivals are typically found to be genuine refugees – those fleeing for their lives and safety, not simply seeking better lives in wealthier nations. Far from being "illegal immigrants" they are exercising the right to seek asylum under international law.