It is clear to many people, just from day-to-day experience, that public opinion has become enormously polarised on the issue of asylum seekers.
This polarisation reflects a positive trend that while support for the government's policy remains firm among a substantial section of the population, an increasing proportion have become passionately and vocally opposed.
The government's response to the Tampa incident allowed it to whip up a sense of fear and insecurity, which was helped along by the events of September 11. Its ability to convince people that asylum seekers from Middle Eastern countries posed a threat that they were terrorists, were not genuine refugees, and even if they were, they were stealing a place from someone else waiting in line was very effective, because it built on the racism and xenophobia so much a part of Australian government policy for decades previous.
The opinion polls reflected this. A Roy Morgan poll conducted between September 12 and 16 showed that 68% of people supported the government's actions to stop asylum seekers aboard the Tampa reaching Australia.
A Newspoll conducted between August 31 and September 2 found that 50% of respondents agreed that all refugee boats should be turned back, while 38% thought some should be allowed to enter depending on the circumstances. Only 9% thought all boats should be allowed to enter.
In another Newspoll conducted between October 26 and 28, support for turning boats back grew to 56%, while support for allowing some to enter dropped to 33%.
A Melbourne Age poll conducted last August and September revealed that 71% of people supported mandatory detention.
However, after the protracted hunger strike in January by asylum seekers held in the Woomera detention centre, and solidarity protests in February, a Newspoll survey dated March 22 found that 22% said they were more sympathetic to the release of asylum seekers and 66% were less sympathetic.
A Newspoll conducted between February 8 and 10 found that 15% opposed mandatory detention for any asylum seekers, while 19% opposed the detention of women and children, and 56% supported the detention of all asylum seekers.
Following the revelations in February that government ministers had lied about asylum seekers throwing their children overboard, a telephone poll conducted by Irving Saulwick found that the government's "Pacific solution" was opposed by 50% of respondents. Support for mandatory detention stood at 62%, while 34% opposed it.
Thus, in the space of only six months, support for mandatory detention dropped almost 10%. More than a third of people now oppose mandatory detention.
The government is aware that opinion is shifting on mandatory detention, which is why PM John Howard and immigration minister Philip Ruddock explain that they don't personally like locking people up, but that it is a "regrettable" necessity.
No opinion polls on the issue of asylum seekers have been conducted since March.