No backing down on Malaysia deal: Bowen

5 Aug 2011, 5:14 pm   -   Source: AAP

The government insists it will ship the latest asylum seeker arrivals to Malaysia, despite rising pressure to grant exemptions to children

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The federal government insists it won't relent on plans to ship the latest asylum seeker arrivals to Malaysia, despite rising pressure to grant exemptions to the large number of minors.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said those coming to Australia or who put their children on boats should work on the basis that they would be taken to Malaysia.

"No blanket exemptions. I will not have the situation where we provide a reward for people who put their children on a boat, and undertake that dangerous journey," he said.

The immigration department on Friday confirmed there were 18 children among the latest boatload of asylum seekers.

The department said it had checked the ages of all asylum seekers who had claimed to be minors and found one to actually be an adult, bringing the number of children to 18, including 13 who were unaccompanied.

The high proportion of children on the vessel has been interpreted as a deliberate move by people smugglers to test the government's resolve in implementing its Malaysian solution.

Mr Bowen said the government would adopt a case-by-case approach to any particular vulnerabilities among the asylum seekers.

"But I know, sure as night follows day, that if you have blanket exemptions people smugglers would exploit that loophole and put children on boats, and we'd be dealing with the dangerous situation of boatloads of children," he said.

Opposition deputy leader Julie Bishop said the government had painted itself into a corner.

"It either allows unaccompanied children to be taken to Malaysia to an uncertain fate where the Australian government has no control over what happens to them or the government caves in to the people smugglers."

Either was a diabolical outcome for asylum seekers and a bad outcome for Australia, she said.

United Nations Children's Fund Australia chief executive Norman Gillespie said it was extremely concerning that unaccompanied minors might be deported.

"It's a trauma to come to Australia in this manner, and it's an even greater trauma to then be deported," he said.

Lawyers are worried Mr Bowen could send children to Malaysia despite his position as the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.

Australian Lawyers Alliance president Greg Barns says if children are deported, Labor will be breaching its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"Sending unaccompanied children to a third country such as Malaysia is clearly not something that can be said to be consistent with protection from harm," he said in a statement.

"It is unconscionable."

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Bowen had a conflict of interest, being both the minister making decisions on deportation and the children's guardian.

"He needs to hand over the guardianship of these children if he fails to act in their best interest," she said.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said there was nothing easy about the issue but Australia would be neglecting its responsibility if unaccompanied children were sent away.

"It is absolutely indefensible for Australia, a prosperous country, to send children by themselves to another country. I think we are failing in humanity in doing that," he said.

Malaysian Asylum Seeker Deal

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