FED: Another boat arrives in Australia with 32 Sri Lankans aboard

AAP General News (Australia)
04-22-2009
FED: Another boat arrives in Australia with 32 Sri Lankans aboard

By Julian Drape and Andrew Drummond

CANBERRA, April 22 AAP - Another boatload of asylum seekers has been intercepted off
the West Australian coast, less than a week after a fishing boat exploded, killing five
Afghans.

The latest boat was carrying 32 Sri Lankan men, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said.

It was intercepted 47 nautical miles southwest of Barrow Island after entering Australian waters.

"The vessel had just entered our migration zone ... that extends 33 nautical miles
off our shore," Mr Debus told reporters in Perth.

"The people on board will be transported to Christmas Island.

"I am told that the boat is secure and the operation is proceeding very successfully."

The boat was intercepted by HMAS Wollongong after being spotted by a border protection
plane "in the last 24 hours", Mr Debus said on Wednesday afternoon.

It is the seventh boat to arrive in Australian waters this year.

It's the fifth to be intercepted in the past two weeks, and the 14th since Labor made
changes to Australia's immigration policy last September.

The coalition has argued that "soft" policy shift is to blame for the recent influx
of boat people, which has seen 485 asylum seekers arrive in the last eight months.

Now, it's also pointing the finger at cost-cutting.

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone says funding for the immigration department,
border protection and customs has been cut.

"Resources have been slashed," she said.

"One of the things we have insisted the Rudd Labor government do is review that cost slashing."

Dr Stone questioned why aerial surveillance missed the latest arrival.

"We had been given a heads-up there was a boat coming in, probably about 36 hours ago," she said.

"We've got a series of bungles and series of problems here."

As the boat was being intercepted, debris and personal belongings retrieved from the
vessel which exploded off Ashmore Reef last Thursday arrived in Darwin for forensic testing.

Northern Territory police have finished interviewing 55 witnesses to the fatal explosion.

Fifty-one defence personnel have been interviewed, as well as four people who were
aboard the boat.

Some 29 of the Afghans can't immediately seek refugee status because they were first
taken to an oil rig - the Front Puffin - which is excised from the mainland.

However, 13 others who were taken directly to Darwin for medical treatment can apply
straight away, and will be able to appeal any decision regarding their status.

The Greens says there's a two-class system, and are calling for all asylum seekers
to be processed on the mainland.

"In this particular case, members of the same family could potentially be presented
with different legal entitlements," Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young
said.

"The inconsistency ... throws a spotlight on the arbitrary and unfair nature of these laws."

Dr Stone said the two groups were treated differently because of the Rudd government's
offshore processing policy.

She said none of them should receive special visa consideration because of the ordeal
they went through.

But it remains unclear whether the coalition wants temporary protection visas back on the agenda.

"In terms of temporary protection visas, they are part of our consideration for a strategy
for the future," Dr Stone said.

AAP jcd/kms/mn/jlw

KEYWORD: BOAT WRAP (WITH GRAPHIC & PIX)

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