Bowen says govt is slowing boat arrivals

2 Nov 2012, 5:55 pm   -   Source: AAP
A total of 116 Sri Lankans who arrived to Australia by boat without visas have been returned home. (AAP)

A total of 116 Sri Lankans who arrived to Australia by boat without visas have been returned home. (AAP)

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the government's asylum seeker strategy is working.

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Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the government's plan to stop asylum seekers arriving by boat is largely working, but admits that getting the message through to Sri Lankans is proving difficult.

Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney that overall the number of asylum seekers from most countries, including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, had either reduced or "stabilised" since the government announced the restoration of offshore processing in mid-August.

"But we continue to see an increase from Sri Lanka," Mr Bowen said.

Papua New Guinea's Manus Island detention facility is expected to be ready to receive asylum seekers by the end of the year, with the centre on Nauru already in operation.

A further 26 Sri Lankans have been returned to their home country, bringing the total number of returns to Sri Lanka since August to 116.

The men, who had arrived by boat at Christmas and Cocos islands earlier in the week, left Christmas Island late on Thursday.

Mr Bowen said the action would send a clear message that Australia will only accept people with genuine claims through its refugee program.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is concerned asylum seekers are not given access to an independent advocate to help them with the process.

"It is worrying to see people who have made such a long and dangerous journey to Australia ... not being able to be screened in to have their case put," she told the ABC.

The final member of a group of 15 Sri Lankans who arrived on the vessel Chejan - the subject of an alleged hijacking off the Sri Lankan coast on October 13 - has also been returned.

HMAS Leeuwin picked up 57 people on board a boat northwest of Ashmore Islands on Thursday.

They are being transferred to Christmas Island and face being sent to Nauru or Manus Island.

Meanwhile, a senior Indonesian immigration official has warned an Australian promise to speed up the processing of refugees will increase the number of asylum seekers in Indonesia.

Djoni Muhammed, head of Indonesia's immigration enforcement, has estimated there are 100,000 people in his country who want to leave for Australia.

He said sending asylum seekers offshore and increasing the refugee intake would not deter them.

Australia has promised to increase its annual humanitarian refugee intake to 20,000 and speed up processing.

Up to 600 of these will be Iraqis, Afghans and Iranians in Indonesia.

"It's a dilemma really," Mr Muhammed told ABC radio on Friday.

"If the asylum seekers in Indonesia got sent there sooner, it would just be like an advertisement."

That would encourage people waiting in Malaysia and other places to move to Indonesia because their asylum claims would be processed more swiftly, he said.

He added that Australia had still not fulfilled its promise to take 200 people with UN refugee status from Indonesia last year.

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