Turnbull to refine Howard asylum seeker policy

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1121617 [headline] => Turnbull to refine Howard asylum seeker policy [abstract] => Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the coalition's asylum seeker policy would be a refined version of the Howard government policy.
 
[keywords] => Asylum, boat, christmas island, detention [content] =>

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the coalition's asylum seeker policy would be a refined version of the Howard government policy.

Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Radio the Rudd government needed to initiate a public inquiry to inform debate about how to deal with the latest round of boat arrivals.

Such an inquiry would also inform the coalition's policy, which had been effective in the past, he said on Friday.

"We know that the previous policies of the Howard government certainly worked in the sense that there were for many years very few, little or no arrivals," Mr Turnbull said.

'Informed debate'

"So they worked.

"Putting them all back in place exactly as they were - would that be effective, or are there refinements and changes that would be more effective?

"That's something we've got to look at and we're very keen to have an informed debate about that."

The opposition leader said a Turnbull government would "put in place policies that will over time stop this surge in boats".

"Our policy is our record - we've done it before and we'll do it again," he said.

[start_date] => 30 October 2009 | 12:46:14 PM [comments_allowed] => 1 [source] => AAP [commentCount] => 1 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull (AAP) [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 103252 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => site_1_rand_1093096819_turnbull_serious_flag_1407_b_aap.jpg [title] => turnbull_serious_flag_1407_B_AAP_1093096819 [description] => file:site_1_rand_1093096819_turnbull_serious_flag_1407_b_aap.jpg [type] => [height] => 338 [width] => 450 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2009-07-14 06:45:06 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [2] => Array ( [id] => 1121362 [label] => Boat intercepted off Ashmore Islands [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1121317 [label] => Asylum standoff: No end in sight [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [0] => Array ( [id] => 1121002 [label] => Asylum seekers 'can't choose' destination [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1121002 [headline] => Asylum seekers 'can't choose' destination [abstract] => Australia has bluntly told a group of rescued Sri Lankan asylum-seekers they couldn't choose their destination but didn't rule out using force after they refused to disembark in Indonesia.
[content] =>

Australia has bluntly told a group of rescued Sri Lankan asylum-seekers they couldn't choose their destination but didn't rule out using force after they refused to disembark in Indonesia.
  
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith insisted the group of 78, currently on an Australian ship, would be processed in Indonesia under a new agreement between the countries and urged patience despite an 11-day time-lag.
  
"When someone is rescued on the high seas in the Indonesian search and rescue area, and Indonesia and Australia agree where they should be offloaded, it's not a matter of the choice of the asylum seekers on board where they make that claim," he told public broadcaster ABC late on Wednesday.
  
"The agreement between Australia and Indonesia is an agreement that they will be processed in Indonesia. We remain confident that if we're patient, that we can effect that in accordance with the agreement made between President (Susilo Bambang) Yudhoyono and the prime minister."
  
The stand-off has raised questions about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's "Indonesian Solution" to the asylum-seeker problem brokered with Yudhoyono after more than 30 rickety boats were stopped off Australia this year.
  
Intercepted nearly two weeks ago

The 78 Sri Lankans were intercepted by Australia's navy on October 18 and transferred to an Australian customs ship after getting into trouble in international waters where Indonesia has rescue obligations.
  
Smith has played down reports the people-smuggling boat carrying the Sri Lankans, who come from the country's war-ravaged north, was deliberately sabotaged to force the rescue.
  
Australia acknowledges handing over financial aid to help Indonesia, a major staging post for asylum-seekers, intercept and detain the refugee boats which have long been the subject of fierce domestic debate.
  
However, the policy has come under fire from activists who highlight the poor quality of Indonesia's detention facilities and its failure to sign the 1951 UN refugee convention.
  
The Sri Lankans were first sent to a port on the main island of Java before being diverted to Bintan island, where the provincial governor initially refused to house them and said Indonesia should not be a "dumping ground."
  
Force not ruled out

Smith did not rule out using force to remove the asylum-seekers but said he hoped the impasse could be resolved in a "civilised" way.
  
"I've said on a number of occasions in recent days that I remain hopeful that this can be done in a civilised and dignified way," said Smith, when asked about the use of force.
  
He added that Australia had no deadline in dealing with the row, and said a short-lived hunger strike by male passengers was now over.
  
"Just like my Indonesian counterpart, I'm not proposing to put a timeline or deadline on that... we have an abundance of patience in how to deal with this issue," he told Sky News on Thursday.
  
The incident follows a similar row over a group of 250 Sri Lankans who refused to leave their boat, threatening to blow it up and going on a brief hunger-strike, after being stopped by Indonesia at Australia's request.
  
Prime Minister Rudd has also denied accusations that "terrorists" were on board asylum boats headed for Australia.
 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 29 October 2009 [articletime] => 29 October 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1121317 [headline] => Asylum standoff: No end in sight [abstract] => A stand-off between authorities and asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking is continuing, with the Rudd government unable to say when the group will be offloaded. [content] =>

A stand-off between authorities and asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking is continuing, with the Rudd government unable to say when the group will be offloaded.

As the Tamil asylum seekers, who have fled Sri Lanka, remained in limbo for another day, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia warned the group represented a security threat.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday said the Australian and Indonesian governments had great patience in dealing with the 78 Tamils, who are refusing to leave the vessel in Indonesia.

Mr Rudd has not ruled out using cash payments to entice them to disembark.

The ship, which is running out of food and drinking water, will be resupplied on Sunday.

The asylum seekers were rescued almost two weeks ago by an Australian navy vessel in Indonesia's search and rescue zone, before being transferred to the Oceanic Viking, an Australian Customs vessel, which remains anchored 10 nautical miles off Bintan Island.

"The foreign affairs minister of Indonesia said last night of Indonesia: 'Indonesia has great patience in handling this matter' - so does Australia," Mr Rudd told parliament.

Cash payment plan mooted

"That is the basis upon which the vessel's presence in the port will be considered in the future."

A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said there was no time decided on the transfer of the asylum seekers to the Tanjung Pinang detention centre on Bintan.

"The Australian and Indonesian authorities are still working through the details of disembarkation," he said.

The opposition has raised the prospect of cash payments being made to entice the group off the Oceanic Viking, but Mr Rudd said such a move has never been considered.

"My advice is that is not the case," he said.

However, the prime minister did not rule out the option in the future.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans meanwhile hit back at opposition questions about the cost of rescuing the Tamils. 

Indonesian solution 'a failure'

"The alternative cost was the death of 78 people," he said in the Senate.

"You have to answer the questions, do you oppose the rescue at sea of those 78 individuals?"

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone maintains the so-called Indonesia solution is a failure.

"I think what we're going to see is boats from Sri Lanka simply skirting around Indonesia's territorial waters and its search and rescue zone.

"It never was a solution, it was always a blind prayer hoping Indonesia would take the problem off the hands of Australia."

The comments come amid a warning from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya, that the Tamil asylum seekers represented a security threat.

Refugees 'a security threat'

"They pose a threat to peace and security of Australia," he told Sky News.

There are more than 250,000 people in camps in Sri Lanka as a result of a 20-year civil war that ended earlier this year.

Mr Walgampaya rejects claims Tamils in Sri Lanka are being persecuted.

But Alex, the spokesman for a group of 251 Tamil asylum seekers still moored at Merak in Indonesia after being intercepted by the Indonesian navy on their way to Australia, said the world does not know the truth about what is happening in Sri Lanka.

The group remains holed up on the rickety Jaya Lestari 5, and is also refusing to disembark in Indonesia.

"People in these camps are being murdered every single day, raped, children are going missing," he said.

"There is so much torture going on inside these camps, and I think the whole world should see this."

 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 30 October 2009 [articletime] => 30 October 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [2] => Array ( [article_id] => 1121362 [headline] => Boat intercepted off Ashmore Islands [abstract] => Another boatload of asylum seekers has been intercepted off the Ashmore Islands - the 37th stopped by Australian authorities this year. [content] =>

Another boatload of asylum seekers has been intercepted off the northern Australian coast - the 37th intercepted by Australian authorities so far this year.

Australian Navy patrol boat HMAS Ararat, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, intercepted the vessel near the Ashmore Islands, between the Kimberley coast and the island of Timor at about 4.20pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the vessel, thought to have 34 passengers and four crew members on board, was first spotted by a surveillance aircraft crew.

The group will be transferred to Christmas Island for security, identity and health checks.

The latest arrivals come as the federal government grapples with a solution to the crisis involving 78 Tamil asylum seekers who refuse to leave the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking and enter a detention centre in Indonesia.

The asylum seekers were rescued almost two weeks ago by an Australian navy vessel in Indonesia's search and rescue zone, before being transferred to the Oceanic Viking, which remains anchored 10 nautical miles off Bintan Island.

People smugglers arrested

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday said the Australian and Indonesian governments had great patience in dealing with the 78 Tamils, who are refusing to leave the vessel in Indonesia.

Mr Rudd has not ruled out using cash payments to entice them to disembark.

The ship, which is running out of food and drinking water, will be resupplied on Sunday.

Mr O'Connor said 19 people-smuggling facilitators or organisers had been arrested in co-operation with Indonesian and Malaysian authorities since September last year.

Over the same period, federal police have charged 59 people with offences under the Migration Act (1958), including a 55 boat crew members and four Australian organisers.

 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 30 October 2009 [articletime] => 30 October 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) ) [comments] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [articles_ugc_id] => 41117 [author] => Vox Liberalis [source] => NSW [content] => The problem is that they look so human that we risk losing them in a crowd. I agree with the Liberals here, we could decree that all asylum seekers wear a yellow star sewn onto their clothing so that we can easily identify who to direct our hatred towards. [user_headline] => The End Justifies The Means [comment_date] => 30 Oct 2009 17:53 AEST [agree] => 2 [disagree] => 2 ) ) ) [winston] => test )