Boat People Banned from Australia Forever

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

Rosie Lewis | The Australian | 30 October 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/boat-people-banned-from-australia-for-life/news-story/6b38998db0fed43e6d4fcecba3b166c4?nk=5210ea90b0ec71d2453bb016f53292c9-1477810161


Extract: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has heaped pressure on Bill Shorten to support a lifetime ban on asylum-seekers who attempt to come to Australia by boat, declaring it will "send the strongest possible signal to the people smugglers".

The Prime Minister spoke about the "failure" of the Rudd and Gillard governments to implement strong border controls as he announced the Coalition will introduce legislation to "prevent irregular maritime arrivals taken to a regional processing country from making a valid application for an Australian visa".

He insisted the bill, to be introduced when parliament sits in a week's time, reflected the bipartisan position backed by Labor that asylum-seekers sent to Manus Island or Nauru will never be permanently settled in Australia.

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/792505687154700288

The legislation will apply to all asylum-seekers, including those found to be genuine refugees, taken to a regional processing country since 19 July, 2013 - the date when former prime minister Kevin Rudd said asylum-seekers who came to Australia by boat had no chance of being settled here.

"It will send the strongest possible signal to those who are seeking to persuade persons currently on Nauru and in Manus that the Australian government will change its policy and allow them to settle here," Mr Turnbull said.

"We have one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world. But the only reason we can do it, the only reason it has the public acceptance that it does, is because we are in command of our borders.

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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/australia-facing-new-refugee-influx-as-rohingya-crisis-worsens/news-story/720824e216e2d0e59195a848da96a342

A BOAT has sailed from the south of Java bound for Australia carrying an estimated 25 Rohingya and Afghan asylum seekers, believed to be the first time in several years that such a vessel has left Indonesia.

An Indonesian intelligence source told News Corp the small boat left late last week from Cidaun, which up until 2013 was the most notorious departure point for asylum seekers in the Indonesian archipelago.


Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a Rohingya refugee camp in Jamtoli near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Border Force Australia said it was unaware of the boat and has no current on-water operations.

Politicians have blamed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern's offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru on a new "pull" for refugees, however others warn the Rohingya crisis will see thousands attempting to get to Australia regardless.

Some 600,000 Muslim Rohingya are currently in crisis in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, where they faced brutal repression from the military.

The potential influx risks causing new problems for Australia and Indonesia. At the highest political levels in Jakarta there is deep sympathy for the plight of the Rohingya, whom Indonesian supports as oppressed Muslims within their region.


Rohingya refugee children and women practise hand washing to show to the Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on his visit to a hospital at Jamtoli refugee camp.
On Sunday, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo visited Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazaar, sending a message of solidarity.

The concern in Australia will be that the refugees will see President Jokowi's visit as an invitation to escape the camps and get to Indonesia, putting them on Australia's doorstep.

Only a fortnight ago, John Blaxland, Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at ANU, told News Corp there was "a high likelihood of a wave of refugees heading towards Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia that would make what we've seen at Manus and Nauru pale."


The Indonesian President takes a look during his visit to an Indonesian-run hospital at Rohingya Jamtoli refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
He warned that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, accused of atrocities that led to retaliation by the military, were actively inciting the Rohingya refugees to jihad.


"We know dispossessed Muslim Rohingya are ripe for the picking by Islamic extremists and it would not be surprising to see a body of violent jihadists emerge from this space," Mr Blaxland said.

Operation Sovereign Borders was involved in three boat turnbacks or take-backs across 2017, with vessels believed to have come from further afield than Indonesia.

Cidaun, directly north of Christmas Island, was the scene of mass-death tragedy in July 2013 when an overloaded boat, carrying Iranians and Sri Lankans, sank in heavy seas.


Indonesian President Joko Widodo talks to a Rohingya boy next to his wife Iriana Joko Widodo during their visit to a hospital at Jamtoli refugee camp.
The weather off the south of Java across to northern Australia is currently bad, with an active monsoonal trough bringing heavy rains. This will make any attempts by Border Force to turn any boats back to Java fraught.

The former policy instigated by Tony Abbott's government of sending people back in orange lifeboats was abandoned after consternation that it caused false alarms that a large ship was in strife somewhere off the coast.

In their place, the federal government commissioned 10 brand-new wooden fishing boats to be built in Vietnam, which exchanged on-sea for failing asylum vessels.

However, it was learned the boats did not meet Australian survey and were considered unsafe and were too expensive to bring up to standard.

Five of the vessels have sat for several years in dry dock at a boat yard in Fannie Bay, Darwin.

Myanmar has done a deal with Bangladesh to take back the refugees, but it will be a long process and many of the Rohingya will refuse to return.

Border Force Australia said it was unaware of the boat and has no current on-water operations.

Politicians have blamed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern's offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru on a new "pull" for refugees, however others warn the Rohingya crisis will see thousands attempting to get to Australia regardless.

Some 600,000 Muslim Rohingya are currently in crisis in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, where they faced brutal repression from the military.

The potential influx risks causing new problems for Australia and Indonesia. At the highest political levels in Jakarta there is deep sympathy for the plight of the Rohingya, whom Indonesian supports as oppressed Muslims within their region.

On Sunday, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo visited Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazaar, sending a message of solidarity.

The concern in Australia will be that the refugees will see President Jokowi's visit as an invitation to escape the camps and get to Indonesia, putting them on Australia's doorstep.

Only a fortnight ago, John Blaxland, Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at ANU, told News Corp there was "a high likelihood of a wave of refugees heading towards Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia that would make what we've seen at Manus and Nauru pale."

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https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/2024/02/18/border-security-boat-arrivals

A war of words has broken out between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton amid reports of another large group of boat arrivals at a remote campsite in Western Australia.

Thirteen men, believed to be from Bangladesh and India, appeared at Pender Bay, in WA's north, and walked into the local campground on Friday afternoon

Second group of asylum seekers wanders into Australian town - after 30 turn up on an 'undetected' boat and are found on side of the road

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13094509/Asylum-seekers-Australia-boats-Albanese-Dutton.html

Australian Border Force told media on Friday they were conducting an ongoing operation in the north of WA.

'As this operation is ongoing, no further information will be provided,' the ABF said in a statement.

'Australia's tough border protection policies means no one who travels unauthorised by boat will ever be allowed to settle permanently in Australia.

'The only way to travel to Australia is legally, with an Australian visa.'

The area is north of the tiny Indigenous community of Beagle Bay where locals discovered more than 20 men on dirt tracks near the town that morning. They said they had journeyed via Indonesia.

The discovery of the new group has raised fears there could be more undetected suspected asylum seekers wandering the remote stretch of coastline.

It's not clear whether the second group had reached Australia on the same boat as the first.

Opposition Peter Dutton said the sudden influx of boat arrivals showed the Albanese government was "weak" on border control.

"I know exactly how these people smugglers work," said Dutton.

"They will react to a weak prime minister and to a weak minister. If they see vulnerabilities, they will exploit them, and that's exactly what has happened here."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said people who attempted to arrive in Australia by boat "will not settle here".

Albanese took a veiled swipe at Dutton for "politicising" issues of national security which he said would play into the hands of people smugglers.

"We do not seek to politicise national security issues and it is unfortunate when any politician seeks to do so."

"I do say for people in public life to have a look at the very clear, strong and unequivocal message sent by Rear Admiral Sonter last night in the very clear statement that he made."

Operation Sovereign Borders commander Rear Admiral Brett Sonter had issued a statement on Friday evening warning that negative public discussion about Australia's border security could encourage people smugglers.

Sonter said Australia's military-led border operation's purpose remained the same as it was when established in 2013.

"Protect Australia's borders, combat people smuggling in our region and, importantly, prevent people from risking their lives at sea.

"Any alternate narrative will be exploited by criminal people smugglers to deceive potential irregular immigrants and convince them to risk their lives and travel to Australia by boat."

A High Court decision in January to release 149 immigration detainees who had no prospect of being deported had already put Labor under pressure, with the opposition slamming the government's handling of the case.

More than two dozen have been re-arrested and charged since being freed, including for visa breaches.

Of the seven people accused of Commonwealth offences, three are in custody and four are on bail