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http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/national/aust-in-contact-with-europe-over-boats-pm/story-fnjbnvyj-1227334002348 (http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/national/aust-in-contact-with-europe-over-boats-pm/story-fnjbnvyj-1227334002348)


A TOP European official has hosed down Prime Minister Tony Abbott's suggestion that Australia and Europe are in talks on how to stop asylum seeker boats. 
 
EUROPEAN Commission spokesman Natasha Bertaud also said that even if there were talks between the two, Europe would never adopt Australia's controversial asylum seeker policy.

Another 5,800 migrants desperate to reach Europe were rescued this weekend as they tried to cross the Mediterranean, more than 2,150 of them on Sunday, the Italian coastguard said.

The number rescued was one of the highest recorded in recent years, raising fears that the tide of people risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East has not been slowed by recent drownings.

"My understanding is that there has been some contact at official level between Australian people and Europeans," Abbott said, when asked if Europe had sought advice on how to deal with the issue.

"Obviously, Operation Sovereign Borders is an object lesson in how to do the right thing by everyone," he added, referring to Canberra's military-led response to boat people.

"To do the right thing by our people and ultimately do the right thing by poor, misguided people who for all sorts of reasons want a better life but very often end up dead if they succumb to the lure of the people-smugglers.
"There is a lesson in what's happened here in Australia for other countries. Quite obviously there is a lesson here."

But Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said in Brussels that she was "not aware" of any European-Australian contacts on asylum seekers.
She said "the European Union applies the principle of non-refoulement," or no forced return under international law.

"We have no intention of changing this. So of course the Australian model can never be a model for us," Bertaud added.

Abbott made the comments while flagging $500 million in savings due to the policy, largely through the closure of immigration detention centres and less demand for charter flights used to take volunteers back to their home countries.