What is an asylum seeker?

An asylum seeker is a person who has fled their own country and applies to the government of another country for protection as a refugee.

What reasons would they leave their country and come to Australia?

The reason why asylum seeker's would leave their country and come to Australia is because Australia allows any race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, political opinion because they caused them to flee from their country.

What reasons will allow them to be approved for asylum?

Persecution due to their beliefs, race and nationality, and opinions.

From what countries are most asylum seekers coming?

Iraq and Burma.

What title does Kevin Rudd have in the Australian Government? Explain what this role entails

Foreign Affairs Minister, the highest on the rank.

What is Kevin Rudd concerns?
Kevin Rudd's concerns are that he accused North Korean's nuclear weapons and missile programs are direct threat to Australia, the US, South Korea and Japan are blamed for provoking the current dangerous instability on the Korean Peninsula.

What forum was he at to express his concerns?
ASEAN Regional Forum

What actions have North Korea performed recently which have Rudd alarmed and the region lacking stability?
North Korea has been working for about a decade on its Tapodong-2 long range missile, with a reported design range of 15,000 km, torpedoes sunk Korean naval ship and civilians on the island. 

What is a 'direct threat' to Australia according to Rudd?
The 'direct threat to Australia according to Rudd is the development of the long range missiles that propose danger to the security of our nation, and Rudd would take leaderships and be participating on UN. And they can make lots of allies which is good for strong economy and technology.

What do you think that Rudd is trying to accomplish diplomatically by calling out his North Korean counterpart publicy? How does this relate to Australia's relationship and role in the region?
However a fired-up Mr Rudd said Mr Pak and his colleagues needed to re-engage with reality if their renewed discussions with the outside world were to bear any fruit. This relates to the relationship of Australia and the countries of the region because in the eyes of other nations Australia will be seen as a leader and many countries will have a positive perception of what Australia is doing, promoting the relationship with it's neighbors.
How does this relate to Australia's relationship to major allies?
This relates to Australia's relationships to major allies because in doing this Australia will demonstrates its loyalty and promotes its status with other allies.

Summarizing the article 'We're not helping really' and Opinions.

Dot Points (article)

• By 2015 we will be spending $8 billion a year on helping people overseas.
  
• Kevin Rudd announced a review of Australia's overseas aid program by an impressive panel of experts. 
  
• Helping people in need is a good thing to do, and there are always more people who need help but spending money in ways that make no difference doesn't help anyone, and there is no virtue in aid that makes donors feel good but doesn't help the needy.
• Most obviously, emergency relief after disasters such as Indonesia's tsunami can save thousands. But this accounts for only 7 per cent of today's program.
  
• First, poverty is being overcome. In 1981, 54 per cent of the world's people lived in extreme poverty. By 2005 this had fallen to 25 per cent. In 2015 it will be less than 15 per cent, according to the World Bank
  
• Many of the world's most populous nations, left behind two centuries ago by the industrial revolution, are finally catching up.
  
• In China, economic growth has lifted half a billion people out of poverty since 1990
  
• Now, as we watch some of the word's poorest countries start to grow of their own accord, we can see more clearly that aid in any form (capital, technology, roads, schools, armies of technical advisers) does not make much differences.

Opinion (my perspective)

I reckon i agree with the author of this article because we are just spending money and there is no proof that aiding some countries will come out positively. Aiding program that Kevin Rudd started since 2005 (?) may end up wasting money. "But spending money in ways that makes no difference doesn't help anyone, and there is no virtue in aid that makes donors feel good but doesn't help the needy." this explains that Kevin Rudd was just wasting 8 billion dollars on aiding and never see the outcome. However, in the other hand, some aids help for example, Indonesia's Tsunami can save thousands homeless people which was very effective. But in the end, Indonesia could have built new school's with their money but Australia is just spending money on unnecessary things.

Why do you think Australia is giving more Aid? What would be the benefits of such a policy? What would be the negatives?

Because due to that Australia got into UN security council, now Australia is grabbing attention and therefore, we can impress America and we would look good if we keep aiding. Aiding other countries would benefit us by looking towards the future. We can benefit not economically but where we can have close relationship from other countries and they will owe so much in trading, military. However, Australia could have helped poverty's instead of helping other countries first because in Australia we are experiencing poverty, homeless, unemployment a lot and we could help them first. One more thing that is negative that aiding countries is that Australia may be low on money.