Stopping the Boats: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

This week an alleged people smuggler speaks exclusively to Insight about why he thinks more boats are arriving.

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And his comments are explosive.

He says that if Australia wants to stop the boats, they shouldn't accept any more people.

"People see Australia as easy. After three or four months it's done. The important thing is we definitely get citizenship. We will become Australian citizens immediately."

The Opposition echoes this sentiment that the Rudd Government policy is soft and they have pledged a return to Temporary Protection Visas, off-shore processing and the possible turning back of boats.

Human rights activists are angry with both the Rudd Government and the Opposition saying that Australia is breaching international law and returning to the Howard era policy of indefinite detention.

A recent Newspoll shows that 44% of people believe that the Coalition would best handle the issue of asylum seekers arriving into Australia compared with only 26% of people supporting Labor.

But how should the Government deal with asylum seekers and will the new laws stop the boats and put an end to people smuggling?

Meet the Guests

Sajjad Hussain

Sajjad Hussain is an alleged people smuggler who was arrested in Jakarta by Indonesian police last December. The Australian Government wants to extradite him to face people smuggling offences here. He spoke exclusively to Insight and says if Australia wants to stop boats arriving on its shores, the government needs to toughen up its laws.

Senator Chris Evans

Senator Chris Evans is the Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. He was elected to Federal Parliament in 1993, and was sworn in as minister in the Rudd Government on December 3, 2007. He is also the Leader of the Government in the Senate. He has implemented laws to scale back the previous Howard government's Pacific Solution to asylum seeker boat arrivals.

Philip Ruddock

Philip Ruddock served as Immigration Minister from 1996 to 2003 under the former Liberal government. He served as Attorney-General from 2003 to 2007. He implemented controversial policies on asylum seekers during his time as minister, most notably the Pacific Solution, which involved processing asylum seeker boat arrivals offshore. He is currently an Opposition back bencher.

Richard Towle

Richard Towle took up the post as Regional Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on March 22, 2007. He is a New Zealander who joined UNHCR in Hong Kong in the 1990s, when he worked in a variety of roles with Vietnamese asylum seekers. He has since held positions within UNHCR in London and Geneva and has been involved in UNHCR's development of policies and operations relating to human rights, internally displaced persons and asylum-migration issues.

Jaffar Ali

Jaffar Ali is an ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan. He left Afghanistan around five years ago and went to Quetta in Pakistan. He was held for nearly five months in a detention centre in Indonesia when he was 14, after being caught by Indonesian authorities while he was on his way to a people smuggling boat. He escaped detention and travelled on another boat, before arriving at Christmas Island. He now lives in Melbourne.