Thread: Finally the Aus Goverment have started showing some balls!

Sri Lankan asylum seekers say no to Nauru and return home
Stephanie Peatling
September 22, 2012


Kids play on the island's runway the evening before the arrival of Sri Lankan and Iraqi asylum seekers.
Photo: Joe Armao

A group of 18 Sri Lankan men detained on Christmas Island chose to return home rather than be sent to Nauru for processing, in a move the federal government is claiming as a major victory for its tough new asylum seeker laws.

The men - most of whom arrived after the government announced the new policy - were sent back to Colombo on a charter flight this morning.

“Both the Nauru transfers and this group of adult Sri Lankan men choosing to return home provide further evidence that the people smugglers are selling lies and misleading asylum seekers about the situation they will face if they reach Australia by boat," the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said.

Two of the 18 men arrived in Australia before the government announced changes to the processing system but they also chose to return to Sri Lanka voluntarily. The other 16 arrived after the changes were announced in August.

Mr Bowen said the men had realised they had been lied to by people smugglers who promised them visas on arrival in Australia.

"What this transfer does, and together with the transfer to Nauru over the last week, is show that if you come to Australia by boat, you risk your life and you throw your money away," Mr Bowen said.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott again called on the government to reintroduce temporary protection visas and turn boats back where it was safe to do so.

Another boat arrived on Friday morning carrying 17 people.

Mr Bowen also announced changes to the Special Humanitarian Program which will remove family reunion concessions for people who arrive by boat.

The changes mean people who arrive in Australia by boat will not be able to sponsor family members under the humanitarian program.

brisbanetimes.com.au

Four children among Manus transfers
Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The federal government has sent 19 asylum seekers to PNG's Manus Island, including four children.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the first 19 people sent to Manus consisted of seven families of Sri Lankan and Iranian origin.

They arrived on Wednesday morning, accompanied by Australian Federal Police, immigration staff, interpreters, children's services and medical staff.

'The first transfer to Manus Island has now taken place - and will be the first of many - sending the clear message that people arriving by boat risk being sent to a regional processing centre in either Nauru or Papua New Guinea,' Mr Bowen said on Wednesday.

The four children are the first the government has sent offshore since embracing its tough new policies in August.

Operations at the Manus centre will be overseen by both the Australian and PNG governments, with welfare services provided by the Salvation Army, health services by IHMS and operational support services by British security firm G4S.

Local Manus Island residents have also been employed at the processing centre.

Mr Bowen also announced that specialised children's services on Manus Island would be provided by Save the Children, including child protection and education activities.

Mr Bowen also announced the creation of an advisory committee to play an oversight role for the Nauru centre.

It will be chaired by immigration department Deputy secretary Wendy Southern and Nauru MP Mathew Batsiua. It also includes Nauruan Justice Secretary Lisa Lo Piccolo and refugee policy expert Paris Aristotle.

The government has also announced preliminary interviews for the processing of people at the Nauru centre will begin soon.

'It is expected that assessment of claims will fully commence in early 2013,' he said.

A contract has been signed with the company Canstruct for work on the permanent facilities at Nauru.

Mr Bowen also revealed another 100 Sri Lankan men have been sent home involuntarily, the ninth such removal this month.

This takes to 426 the number of Sri Lankans forced to return home since August 13.

A total of 525 have now gone back, including 99 who have gone voluntarily.

As well, the government has for the first time forcibly returned an Afghan man found not to be a refugee.

Mr Bowen announced the Pontville Detention Centre in Tasmania will reopen to relieve pressure on the onshore processing network.

Capacity at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation will also be increased by about 300 places.

Asked how long asylum seekers could wait to be processed at offshore centres, Mr Bowen said, 'The five-year figure is an accurate one.'

'I've said repeatedly that the no-advantage test will mean that people will wait for a very substantial period,' he said.

'Could it be five years? Yes it could.'

Mr Bowen also dismissed Amnesty International's comments that Nauru's processing centre was 'completely unacceptable'.

'Amnesty International opposed the Nauru processing facility before they got there, they oppose it after they leave,' he said.

Asked whether Australia's asylum seeker policy might be seen as cruel, Mr Bowen said the government had an 'overriding moral and humanitarian obligation' to stop people drowning at sea.

'And yes, that means difficult decisions must be taken,' Mr Bowen said.

'There is nothing moral, nothing humanitarian, nothing acceptable about the types of deaths, of drownings, we've seen of people coming to Australia by boat.'

bigpondnews.com

Boy dies as asylum boat hit by waves north of Christmas Island
Gemma Jones
March 25, 2013

A YOUNG boy has been killed after large waves hit an asylum seeker boat carrying 95 people which then rolled and capsized north of Christmas Island.

The boy was among two asylum seekers killed after a terrifying series of waves smashed into a dangerously overcrowded boat, with the latest tragedy coming as three more boats arrived.

Traumatised Customs staff plucked 93 survivors from waters 14NM north of Christmas Island, including a seriously ill pregnant woman, aged in her 20s, and a boy, aged six to seven.

The pair ingested water and diesel from the surface of the water and were in a serious condition with breathing difficulties.

Children and their parents who survived the tragedy arrived at Christmas Island around 2pm, three hours after the disaster.


Rescued passengers receive medical care after a suspected asylum seeker boat carrying 95 people capsized off Christmas Island killing two.
(AAP Image/Sharon Tisdale)

Customs staff are caring for two traumatised officers who had boarded the overcrowded 12-15m Indonesian fishing boat moments before two waves slammed into it in swells of between 1-2.5 metres.

The vessel, carrying mostly Afghans, was the latest in a string of arrivals, including another vessel with 128 on board which was found on the weekend, with the government bracing for more boats as monsoonal conditions ease.

Last night it was revealed another three boats, carrying almost 150 people, had arrived over the previous 24 hours.

Since Saturday seven vessels have arrived, carrying more than 430 people, taking March's total to 1583.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard last night said: "I worry every time we hear that a boat is out on the water, too many people have lost their lives getting on these very dangerous boats, paying people smugglers to do so and what a dreadful tragedy this is."

A passenger on the stricken vessel had made a distress call to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre at 9.30pm Sunday night, almost six hours after it was first spotted by a Customs Dash 8 surveillance plane.

Customs vessel the Ocean Protector was sent from Christmas Island at 10.13pm Sunday and spotted the asylum boat 33NM north of Christmas Island.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the vessel was underway and "did not appear to be in distress" and Customs staff waited until first light at 7am (11am AEST) to board.

The vessel stopped to allow Customs staff on board, making it more vulnerable to the two unexpected waves which slammed into it, swamping the hull with water, he said.

"Two officers from Customs and Border Protection Command boarded the vessel, about that time two large waves hit the vessel, the vessel rolled and a number of people entered the water," Mr Clare said.

"The two Customs and Border Protection officers were recovered and are safe. The men and women of protection command acted quickly to rescue the people from the water.

"The men and women of border protection command have experienced another tragic event, two of our men and women have been on board that vessel when it foundered, they went into the water, it is very important we provide them with support services and counselling."

Counsellors were being flown from WA.

Survivors still face being sent to Nauru or Manus Island to have refugee claims processed, Mr Clare said.

Border Protection Command Commander Rear Admiral David Johnston said the Customs officers had approached the vessel in a small rib boat, leaving the larger Ocean Protector 300m away.

He said it was safer to wait until the sun rose to attempt a boarding.

"We are confident we rescued all those we saw in the water," he said.

HMAS Maitland was patrolling the surround area yesterday but it was not expected any more asylum seekers had drowned.

news.com.au


youtube.com

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Love You Australia,we look forward to the big hearted Aussie welcome.

Govt undecided on freeing asylum families
Ehssan Veiszadeh
March 27, 2013

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the government has yet to decide whether asylum-seeking families will be released into the community, as yet another boat, with 147 on board, has been intercepted near Darwin.

The number of people arriving by boat so far this year is now over 3300, more than double the arrivals in the same period of 2012. Wednesday's boat also carried the most passengers since October last year.

The constant influx has forced the government to release more single adults from detention while their refugee claims are processed. These people are given a basic welfare payment but denied the right to work.
Federal Labor is said to be considering extending the community release program to families.

This follows the capsize of a boat on Monday near Christmas Island that left two dead, including a boy thought to be four to five years old.
Customs and Border Protection says it will review its response to that tragedy.

Ms Gillard said on Wednesday that "no decision has been taken" on offering bridging visas to families.

She stressed it was important to deny would-be refugees the right to work, to avoid giving an incentive to people considering the dangerous boat journey to Australia.

"People are given the most basic of benefits, absolutely the most basic of benefits," she told reporters in Perth.

"That is done deliberately because we don't want the degree of support to in any way be used (by) a people smuggler to spruik the benefits of getting on a boat."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison rejected the idea of expanding the bridging visa program, calling it a "rushed and panicked decision" by the government.

"I've got a problem with how they're running the entire community program," he told Sky News.

"I don't think they've demonstrated they can run the program competently for single adult males, let alone then putting families into what would be a vulnerable situation."

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said putting families on bridging visas without the right to work would be "disastrous".

Paris Aristotle, a member of former defence chief Angus Houston's asylum-seeker review panel, warned there would be more deaths at sea without a comprehensive regional approach to processing asylum seekers.

Mr Aristotle cited an incident a week and a half ago when a capsized boat in the middle of the ocean was fortuitously spotted by plane.

He warned that asylum seekers would keep coming by boat while some of the Houston review's recommendations remained to be implemented.

The Malaysia people-swap deal, which parliament won't approve, was a critical component of those recommendations.

But Mr Aristotle conceded more work was needed to resolve issues such as arrangements for unattached minors.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said this meant Mr Aristotle and the other expert panel members had come to the conclusion the Malaysia people-swap plan was "unsatisfactory as it stands".

"We've seen no effort by the government to change or improve the Malaysian people-swap deal," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor's office said all of the Houston panel's recommendations had been carried out or were being implemented, except for the Malaysia arrangement.

"The government is in ongoing discussions with Malaysia in relation to the panel's recommendations," it said.

news.brisbanetimes.com.au

Asylum seekers headed to Christmas Island revolt in Bali after boat turned back
Gemma Jones
May 12, 2013


Indonesian marine police officers guard asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia, at Benoa port in Bali, today.
Picture: AP



About 100 people, including women and children, are on board the boat at Benoa port in Bali.
Picture: AP

ALMOST 100 asylum seekers are refusing to leave their fishing boat in Bali tonight after they were turned back by Indonesian authorities.

The group, believed to be Iranian, were headed for Christmas Island when they were intercepted by Indonesian marine police on patrol this morning.

Their vessel was taken to Benoa Harbour where the group refused to leave the cramped boat because they were to be arrested.

Indonesian immigration officials were waiting with buses and trucks to detain the asylum seekers with Indonesian police guarding the vessel.

Photographs showed women and children lying or sitting below deck.

Packets of two minute noodles were in boxes with the asylum seekers' belongings in plastic and fabric bags.

The turn back of the boat has come as the number of asylum seekers reaching Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands continues at record pace.

In the first nine days of May 1548 people have arrived with almost 9000 so far this year.

April saw a record month of arrivals with 3369 people reaching Australia.

A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said Australian Customs and Border Protection had no information about the Bali vessel.

He said it was routine for Indonesian authorities to turn back asylum boats found in Indonesian waters.

The Australian government would likely get information about the vessel tomorrow, Mr Clare's spokesman said.

heraldsun.com.au

PM accused of breaking promise to poorest
Adam Gartrell
May 13, 2013


The federal government has pushed back its overseas aid spending targets for a second time.
Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has been accused of breaking a promise to the world's poorest people after the government revealed another delay for its overseas aid spending targets.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr confirmed on Monday that Labor's goal of increasing aid spending to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) had been pushed back by another year.

Labor originally promised to reach the target by 2015/16 but pushed it back to 2016/17 last year.

The government is now aiming for 2017/18, as it grapples with massive writedowns in tax revenue.

This means the aid budget will still increase by $500 million to $5.7 billion next year, but the new timetable will save the government close to $3 billion over the next four years.

"We're not cutting, we're increasing," Senator Carr told reporters in Canberra.

"Given the pressures on the budget, given the contraction in revenues, this is an extraordinarily good outcome."

But Senator Carr also confirmed the government would spend another $375 million of the aid budget on asylum seekers on Australian soil.

A diversion of the same amount last year effectively made Australia the third-largest recipient of its own foreign aid program, after PNG and Indonesia.

Senator Carr conceded he would prefer to see the money spent on projects abroad, but he insisted the diversion conformed with international guidelines.

He says the government will cap the amount that can be diverted, to prevent even bigger raids in future budgets.

Nonetheless, charities and aid advocates were furious over the announcements.

Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke said the raid showed the government could not be trusted.

"This is the prime minister's harshest punch yet in a series of blows to the world's poor. The government's latest broken promise on aid is a further cut to those who can least afford it," she said.

CARE Australia's Andrew Buchanan said the government should hang its head in shame.

"This is a major setback for our closest neighbours," he said in a statement.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said a coalition government would deliver on the 0.5 per cent of GNI promise but would not commit to a timetable, calling it an "aspirational goal".

"We'll be making our decisions about this when we see the state of the books," he said.

Mr Abbott's deputy, Julie Bishop, said Labor had "comprehensively trashed the aid budget" and promised a coalition government would not spend aid money on asylum seeker management.

World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello said Australia could have saved another million lives over the next four years if it had stuck to its original spending timetable.

Australian Council for International Development chief Marc Purcell said the decision to spend more aid money on asylum seekers was bad policy, and Australian Greens aid spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said Senator Carr had failed in his responsibilities.

The Australian Christian Lobby said the government's decision would disappoint Christians.

theaustralian.com.au

Oh yes, Naughty old Australia again.

We just don't spend enough of our budget on the worlds poor do we.

The average Australian is well feed up with this sort of rubbish and the whole boat people saga.

We pay a huge amount of taxes as it is and we want it spend at home and given the our poor that are doing it hard before they start giving more away overseas.

The amount of money these illegal boat people are sucking out of economy is criminal, they sail straight in and there home free. Shits me no end.

lets see how the Indonesians treat them EH, bit different than our piss poor bleeding heart system.

We are changing Government this year, cant wait.

Australia rapped over 'grave lapse' in border security
28 May 2013

Australia's border security came under fire Tuesday after reports an Egyptian asylum-seeker wanted by Interpol was held in minimum security and a Sri Lankan accused of murder was released into the community.


The Villawood Immigration Detention Centre near Sydney is shown in 2010. Australia's border security came under fire Tuesday after reports an Egyptian asylum-seeker wanted by Interpol was held in minimum security and a Sri Lankan accused of murder was released into the community.

The cases, outlined in parliament by immigration officials, were condemned as a grave lapse of policy by the conservative opposition.

The Egyptian man who was wanted on a top-level red notice by Interpol spent almost a year in a low-security facility in rural South Australia before being moved to the secure Villawood centre in Sydney.

Immigration department secretary Martin Bowles denied the man had been moved in response to media reports that he was a suspected extremist.

"I can assure you we knew what was going on and we knew where the person was," Bowles told a Senate committee.

"Unfortunately when sensitive information like this is put into the public domain it compromises our ability to do our job properly," he added.

Bowles also confirmed that a Sri Lankan man accused of murdering his girlfriend before seeking asylum in Australia had been released into the community for seven months on a temporary visa while his case was reviewed.

He was "re-detained" and his visa cancelled in April, Bowles said.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott grilled Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the issue in parliament, asking her to assure voters "that the community is as safe today as it was under the former government".

The prime minister refused to comment on the specific cases, accusing Abbott of "disgraceful" fear-mongering.

"What we are seeing from the opposition here is an ugly campaign to try and raise fear in the Australian community, coming here with false claims about national security," Gillard said.

Abbott's immigration spokesman Michael Keenan said the Egyptian man was "either an accused or a convicted terrorist" and had been held behind "what is essentially a (swimming) pool fence".

"The idea he would have spent almost a year within such a low-security environment, from which he could easily have escaped, is really quite frankly beyond belief and represents a very serious breach of our national security," he said.

The politically sensitive issues of border security and Australia's record influx of asylum-seeker boats are likely to loom large in the campaign for September 14's national elections.

The conservatives -- widely tipped to beat Gillard's unpopular Labor government -- have pledged to crack down on boatpeople with punitive policies including tow-backs of boats to international waters.

Bowles said the "very high" number of asylum-seeker boat arrivals was likely to top 25,000 in the year to June 30, with numbers currently at 22,265.

That figure is almost five times estimates of 5,400 for the period given a year ago and double the revised forecast of 12,160 offered in October.

bangkokpost.com

Asylum boat capsize death toll now 13
Sunday, June 09, 2013

Thirteen asylum seekers are dead and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized near Christmas Island.

Authorities are searching for survivors but the navy boat involved has been sent to look for another nearby boat that sent out mayday call.

'This is another terrible tragedy, another terrible reminder of how dangerous these journeys are,' Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.

An Australian patrol boat on Wednesday afternoon spotted a stationary boat with people on its deck, Mr Clare said.

The boat appeared to have about 55 passengers onboard, including women and children.

The asylum seekers waved at the patrol plane but didn't appear to be in distress.

When HMAS Warramunga arrived in the area early on Thursday, it couldn't find the boat.

Its submerged hull wasn't spotted until Friday morning.

A Customs aircraft helping with the search spotted nine bodies in the water on Saturday afternoon.

Another four bodies were found later in the evening.

The bodies are yet to be recovered as the search for survivors continues.

Australian authorities didn't receive a distress call from the boat, Mr Clare said.

Border protection commander Rear Admiral David Johnston has acknowledged the personal toll the operations are taking on search and rescue teams.

'We are humans and the human dimensions of the circumstances are very difficult to deal with,' he's told reporters.

Admiral Johnston says the search will continue and it's still possible that survivors can be found.

He says when the boat was first detected weather conditions were 'quite favourable'.

Opposition border protection spokesman Michael Keenan said the incident was another terrible human tragedy.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the loss of life highlighted the importance of offering asylum seekers safer pathways to Australia.

bigpondnews.com

55 feared dead after migrant boat sinks near Australia
Padraig Collins
Mon, Jun 10, 2013

Air and sea search for a second boat is under way


The issue of asylum-seeker boats is set to play a huge part in the Australian federal election on September 14th. Opposition Liberal party leader Tony Abbott has promised he will “stop the boats” if he wins power.
Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Up to 55 people are feared dead after a suspected asylum-seeker boat sank near Christmas Island, off the northwest coast of Australia.

A massive air and sea search for a second boat is under way. As night fell, 13 bodies from the first boat had been located but not yet recovered from the water.

Australia’s home affairs minister Jason Clare said the search was continuing for survivors. He said the first vessel was first spotted on Wednesday and authorities had counted about 55 people on deck.

Most were men, but there were some women and children. “The vessel was stationary but did not appear to be in distress,” he said.

Call for assistance

Later that evening the Australian navy ship HMAS Warramunga was told to intercept the vessel, but could not locate it. On Friday, debris, including pieces of wood and life-jackets, was found 65 nautical miles northwest of Christmas Island.

The authorities received a call for assistance from another boat on Saturday night. The second boat reported engine troubles about 110 nautical miles north of Christmas Island and the Warramunga was redirected to its location.Mr Clare said that vessel has not yet been located.

The issue of asylum-seeker boats is set to play a huge part in the Australian federal election, which is being held on September 14th.

Opposition Liberal party leader Tony Abbott has promised he will “stop the boats” if he wins power, as he is widely expected to.

There were further asylum seeker arrivals yesterday afternoon, when 78 people rescued from a stricken vessel three days ago arrived at Christmas Island.

irishtimes.com

^

The cock sucker above will win Power in September no probs what so ever. Don't know if he can stop the boats but any one who will have a crack will get my vote.

The mad Welsh ranger ain't serious about it.

These asylum seekers are now being boarded out to Back Packer digs in Perth and sucking the life out of our social security system. They get every thing once landed in country, free medical, free schooling, dental and what ever.

A local Australian who is down on his luck gets piss all except the dole which these days will not cover rent. If sick one will be at the back of the medical list if one does not have private health but refugees have there own on call doctors.

Further more spare a thought for the Naval personal who must fish these dead asylum seekers out of the ocean simply because the Refo's choose to get on a leaky boat and land in Australia illegally.

They are not genuine refuges, they pay a shit load of money to the people smugglers for a berth.

A massive load of shit IMOP. Needs sorting.

Lobby blames inaction for boat capsize
Monday, June 10, 2013


A refugee lobby group has blamed inaction by Aust authorities for the deaths of 13 asylum seekers at sea.

A leading refugee lobby group has blamed inaction by Australian authorities for the deaths of 13 asylum seekers whose boat capsized at sea.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul is calling for a far-reaching inquiry following the latest tragedy in which a vessel overturned 28 nautical miles from Christmas Island.

'It's pretty obvious that at the very least we've got authorities who have sat on their hands and thought we'll wait and see what turns up',' Mr Rintoul told Sky News on Monday.

'Well, we know what turns up with that sort of attitude: bodies in the sea, rather than live people being looked after on Christmas Island.'

The vessel was spotted on Wednesday by a patrolling Australian aircraft and appeared to be carrying about 55 people, including women and children, with no sign of distress.

On Thursday the same boat was seen upturned with bodies in the water, sparking a three-day search for survivors.

Mr Rintoul say a general search response should have been initiated sooner, when the boat didn't arrive as expected on Wednesday at Christmas Island.

'We need an inquiry. If there are problems about resources, then those need to be put in place,' he said.

bigpondnews.com

Hey Terry , I stand corrected but did'nt "Little Johnny" stop the boats? of course I agree with everything you say about them not being Asylum seekers, all they are is "economic migrants" who pay large amounts of money to board the "centre link gravy train" , there's quite a few fair dinkum Aussies here in my area and they all say more or less the same as you do!

Terry ,This article appears to confirm what my Aussie mates here tell that Little Johnny did stop the boats Smuggler agrees Howard successfully stopped the boats | Daily Telegraph Piers Akerman Blog

Originally Posted by Mid

Lobby blames inaction for boat capsize
Monday, June 10, 2013


A refugee lobby group has blamed inaction by Aust authorities for the deaths of 13 asylum seekers at sea.

Actually, I should not be reading this bolliks as I might throw my computer in the shitter and go on a mass murdering campaign against the throttlers who believe this stuff.

Once again lets blame the Australian Government because these tossers choose to pay a heap of money to jump the official refugee quota and chance it all on a friggin boat.

Get a fat one up ya. EH

Rescue underway for new asylum-seeker boat north of Christmas Island
LAUREN WILSON
June 10, 2013

AUSTRALIAN authorities are involved in another high seas rescue after receiving a distress call from a new asylum-seeker vessel early this morning.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre received the distress call this morning from a boat that had come to a halt 115 nautical miles north of Christmas Island.

A spokeswoman for AMSA said authorities were told by one of the passengers that the vessel was suffering from mechanical problems and was carrying 58 asylum-seekers.

The AMSA plane Dornier was despatched to locate the vessel, which it found just after midday today.

HMAS Glenelg is now on scene and authorities will board the boat to determine what the problem is, it is understood all the passengers are still aboard the vessel.

The latest rescue effort, the forth since Wednesday, has delayed efforts to retrieve the bodies of 55 people aboard another asylum-seeker boat which capsized sometime after Wednesday afternoon.

At least 13 of the passengers have been confirmed dead and dozens more feared drowned, but a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection confirmed other operations were delaying efforts to recover bodies.

On Friday, off the Cocos Island coast, 78 Sri Lankans were saved by a merchant vessel, the MT British Curlew on Friday.

And the HMAS Warramunga also last night assisted a boat of asylum-seekers 110 nautical miles north of Christmas Island, while Indonesian search and rescue agency Basarnas revealed it had assisted almost 200 asylum-seekers on two boats in the past five days.

theaustralian.com.au

Policy failure creating a monstrous problem

• by: GREG SHERIDAN, FOREIGN EDITOR
• From: The Australian
• June 08, 2013 12:00AM

THE arrival of almost 45,000 boatpeople in Australia's north since Labor unwound John Howard's border protection policies in late 2008 represents the most comprehensive policy failure since World War II. But whereas most policy failures have a complex set of causes, and involve many uncoordinated actors pushing events beyond Canberra's control, this failure is entirely Canberra's own.
It is the greatest single disaster of the Gillard government and perhaps the hardest to undo.


Although the Australian public is profoundly hostile to this development, the elite debate on the issue has been overwhelmed by two considerations: humanitarian concern for the hundreds of people who have drowned trying to get here by boat, and the Gillard-Abbott contest.
But there are other grave policy concerns. This policy failure threatens to overwhelm and contaminate Australia's entire immigration program, it has grievous security implications and may fundamentally change the nature of Australian society in a way that corresponds to no national policy objective. There are huge economic and social implications as well.

But first, the numbers. The rate of arrivals has continued to accelerate. This financial year, we will reach 25,000 in the 12 months to June 30. But the rate of arrivals appears to be accelerating even further. More than 3000 people arrived on boats in April and another 3000 last month. This month arrivals are already running at a higher rate than that.
If 3000 a month is the new norm, the annual rate is 36,000. It could be more. People-smuggling to Australia - the industry Kevin Rudd said was run by "the scum of the earth" - is now a deeply entrenched, well-financed global business. It is going to be extremely difficult to shut down. The three chief source countries are Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sri Lanka is the main non-Muslim source in recent years. A lot of Sri Lankans were sent back as they were "pre-screened" and determined not to be claiming refugee status. However, the correct form of words to recite has spread through the Sri Lankan networks and it now may be much harder to pre-screen them out.
In reality, almost no one ever goes home from Australia against their will, no matter what their refugee status determination is. Certainly more than 40,000 of those who have arrived under Labor are still here, with a small number at Manus Island and Nauru. About half those who have gone back are Sri Lankans, and most of the rest are Indonesian boat crew.


This boatpeople phenomenon is essentially a determined Muslim immigration. It is important to confront the sensitivities of this situation head-on. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Australia are law-abiding and productive citizens. They should not be made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because of the necessary debate about this huge, unregulated Islamic inflow. But to dodge the debate because of that sensitivity is a recipe for continued, disastrous policy failure.
The case of convicted Egyptian terrorist Maksoud Abdel Latif illustrates how the security system is overwhelmed by the present numbers, but it is not the key policy question.


Assume that 40,000 of those who have arrived so far are Muslims, mostly low skilled and with limited English. Assume that eventually they will all stay in Australia, which is the only rational assumption if policy doesn't change radically. Then assume that, on a very conservative basis, each is responsible, eventually, for one family reunion immigrant, whether a spouse, fiance, parent or sibling. That is a cohort, so far, of 80,000 low-skilled Muslims with poor English predominantly from countries that have the most radical and extreme jihadist traditions in the world.
Of course, most Muslims in any country are not extremists. But after the latest terrorist atrocity in London, former British prime minister Tony Blair, while acknowledging that most Muslims were moderates, commented: "There is a problem with Islam - from the adherents of an ideology which is a strain within Islam. We have to put it on the table and be honest about it. Of course there are Christian extremists and Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu ones. But I am afraid the strain is not the province of a few extremists. It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies ... At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists, but the world view goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for us to admit. So by and large we don't admit it."
The numbers coming to Australia will continue to rise dramatically unless the people-smuggling industry is broken.


A former senior officer of the Immigration Department spoke to me this week, on condition of anonymity, on the way the illegal immigration trade to Australia has become regularised, from Iran in particular. When he first got involved in this issue, Iranians and others would go to Malaysia, then on to Indonesia, and it would be months before they could find a people-smuggler. Now, he says, it is more often like a travel agent service, with everything arranged inside Iran.
Security against jihadist violence from a small but dangerous minority, though extremely important, is not the only problem. A huge force in people-smuggling now consists of people who came to Australia as boatpeople themselves. Similarly, boatpeople families are, according to sources in the bureaucracy, heavily involved in financing one-way trips to Australia for extended family.
Thus the boatpeople phenomenon entrenched in Australia is a big, organised crime industry.


There will be many consequences beyond this.The Immigration Department's figures, released last year, revealed that five years after arrival the rate of employment - not unemployment but employment - of Afghans was 9 per cent, while 94 per cent of Afghan households received Centrelink payments. From Iraq, 12 per cent were employed while 93 per cent of families received Centrelink payments. Overall, households that came under the humanitarian program had 85 per cent receiving Centrelink payments after five years. The family reunion cohort had 38 per cent, and skilled migration 28 per cent.


Taken together, these figures demonstrate the way in which the boatpeople phenomenon can overwhelm our immigration program. We are allowing, indeed attracting, a huge cohort of unskilled Muslim immigrants who have not been chosen by Australian policy or process. But there are almost no unskilled jobs, which is why we stopped unskilled migration in the 1970s. If it follows even remotely the European pattern, this cohort will be characterised by high unemployment, intergenerational welfare dependency, high crime rates, social problems across a broad spectrum and a minority tendency to extremism. For a nation to create this syndrome by avoidable policy failure, knowingly and with full foresight, is remarkable. Nonetheless, it is also wrong to dismiss short-term security problems.
The Latif case illustrates this. ASIO told the Immigration Department Latif was a convicted terrorist. The Immigration Department sent a submission to the office of its minister, then Chris Bowen. Neither the minister nor the department took any action about the fact Latif was housed in a minimum-security facility. Later, after media attention, he was moved to a more secure detention facility.
Yesterday, the pro-refugee lobby was screaming that Latif's conviction in an Egyptian court under Hosni Mubarak lacked credibility. This is truly a bizarre position. Is it the refugee lobby's view now that only terrorists convicted in exemplary courts can trigger security concern?
Although ASIO is not primarily at fault in the Latif case because it eventually did flag his presence to the government, the case illustrates the impossibility of ASIO's task.


About 80 per cent to 90 per cent of boatpeople arrive without documents. Among people-smuggling networks, it is widely known what the correct stories are to tell, indeed the correct form of words to use, to trigger protection under the refugee convention; these are widely promulgated and practised at length.
Notionally, ASIO subjects all arrivals to a security check. This process has broken down and is now all but meaningless. The convention prohibits approaching the country someone is allegedly fleeing for identity or security checks.
So what can ASIO possibly do? It can run the name that the boatperson gives through its various databases, and the international databases to which it has access. It can watch and listen to the boatperson while they are in custody in Australia which, given the way the system is overwhelmed, is increasingly a short period. And, in quite rare cases, it can try to match bio-data, fingerprints, facial patterns and so on, with international databases. The Latif case demonstrates that even when putting the name through a database raises urgent red flags, the system is still too overwhelmed to respond meaningfully. But the broader idea that the tens of thousands of illegal arrivals have been subject to security clearance is farcical.


Two other questions are central. One, are we dealing with a genuine refugee exodus or is this just determined immigration? The refugee acceptance rates in Australia are much higher than those in UN camps overseas or evaluations made by other countries. About half the applications are rejected at their first evaluation but then the vast majority of these are accepted on appeal, especially in the courts. There are multiple, lengthy layers of appeal in the Australian system. The courts handle these questions with integrity, but the overall elite legal/social atmosphere is extremely sympathetic to claimants. Once a claimant has disposed of identity documents and tells the correctly formulated story, there is no way of verifying, or falsifying, it. Therefore the courts overwhelmingly give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant.
Decades of involvement in refugee questions have convinced me of the absolute subjectivity of these judgments. There is probably a need for legislative change here.
Second, can we do anything about the situation in policy terms? Laurie Ferguson's cri de coeur this week that the issue was killing Labor in western Sydney was accompanied by an important statement from Ferguson. These concerns were not expressed by rednecks or racists, he said, but by people of all backgrounds in his electorate, including immigrants - Muslims, Asians, everyone. Former Labor minister Gerry Hand, now resident in Melbourne's western suburbs, similarly reports that no one is more hostile to the boatpeople phenomenon than immigrants who have gone about coming to Australia in the regular fashion.
Can Tony Abbott, and his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, change all this in office? Morrison, Abbott's most successful frontbencher, has effectively won the debate on the government's performance because the facts were on his side - this is a woeful policy failure. But the challenge of fixing it will be immense. Because the Gillard government has applied a succession of confused half-measures, all of which have been ineffective, they have demonstrated the government's lack of will, strategic confusion and operational incompetence. Forcing the people-smugglers to unlearn these lessons will be very hard work indeed.
The opposition's approach has four pillars: turning back the boats where possible; offshore processing where possible so the reward of getting to Australia is unavailable; temporary protection visas with no family reunion rights and work-for-the-dole requirements for minimum welfare payments; and regional co-operation.
Abbott and Morrison's regional co-operation is the opposite of Labor's. Gillard's vision of regional co-operation is fast processing and rapid resettlement so that people don't need to take boats. This is a disastrous approach. It will guarantee many, many tens of thousands more people using smugglers, and it is unappealing to the region.
The Abbott-Morrison vision is the opposite: regional co-operation to deter and exclude illegal arrivals. The region is highly sympathetic to this as it is what almost all regional countries practise themselves. Nonetheless, Labor's epic policy failure has created a monstrous problem for Australia. If it is not solved Australia will be changed fundamentally in a way that no Australians want.


| The Australian

November 21, 2011

There are 13 times more illegal immigrants than there are asylum seekers in detention who have arrived by boat.

Figures obtained by The Advertiser from the Immigration Department and under the Freedom of Information Act show plane arrivals from the United States (5080) and Britain (3610) are near the top of the list of those in the country without a valid visa.

China (8070), and Malaysia (4200) round out the top four.

There are 4446 detained boat people, the largest national grouping of which are Afghans (1422).

58,000 illegal immigrants in Australia have arrived by plane | adelaidenow


and some facts and figures :

Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976 – Parliament of Australia

now let the hysteria continue

.

Originally Posted by terry57

^

The last genuine refugees we had where the Vietnamese 40 years ago. These lot have integrated into society being hard working and contributing to society.

This latest lot don't even like us, have nothing in common with us and will never integrate into Australian society.

Actually, they form there own secular societies within Australia with many younger ones forming gangs and committing crime.

We have seen what happens in the rest of the world when Illegal immigration gets out of control and we do not want Australia heading down that path.

On the other hand if they apply through the correct channels and are excepted once vetted I have no problem with that.

And yes little " Johnny " sorted it out while he had power but the pathetic Labor government dropped the ball.

Wankers

I'd disagree - there are many genuine refugees, have been since Vietnam - you only have to look at the Rohingya, Sri Lankan Tamils, East Timorese and the assoretd rabble from the Middle East and A'ghan that we helped destroy.

Having said that, the problem now is deciding which are real and which aren't - there's a lot of money to be made by the traffickers for economic 'refugees'

When I think about the heat Little Johnny copped with his stance then I find the whole debate now hypocritical to the core

What I find hard to swallow, after getting asylum and PR because their life is in danger in their home country. They go and catch a plane back for a holiday, the Somalis even wanted the Government to pay the airfare. Jim

Female asylum seeker dies at sea
Sunday, June 16, 2013

A woman has been found dead on a boat carrying 60 asylum seekers after it was intercepted near Christmas Island.

The boat was boarded by Customs and Border Control officers in waters off Christmas Island early on Sunday but it is not yet known how the woman died or whether foul play is suspected.

Customs and Department of Immigration spokesmen could not confirm where the boat was coming from, or the woman's nationality.

Her husband and three-year-old son were brought ashore to the detention centre at Christmas Island.

'They are both receiving appropriate care, including mental health care,' a Department of Immigration spokesman told AAP.

The weather was so bad that the remaining passengers were held on board until conditions improved.

A Customs spokesman said they had since been brought ashore.

Investigations are continuing, and the Australian Federal Police are preparing a report for the coroner.

bigpondnews.com

Originally Posted by jamescollister

What I find hard to swallow, after getting asylum and PR because their life is in danger in their home country. They go and catch a plane back for a holiday, the Somalis even wanted the Government to pay the airfare. Jim

I know an Afghan that works here in the U.K,who flies back every year for a holiday.So much for the danger in homeland Afghanistan. The biggest scam is they arrive with only one document,a letter from the "Taliban" threatning to kill them.These are purchased in Kabul as part of the package tour.
Most of Afghanistan is not at war,there are vast safe areas.