(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The Australian government is coming under further fire for donating navy boats to Sri Lanka as its military faces sustained accusations of war crimes and human rights abuses.
The Abbott government says the patrol boats will help to save lives at sea, by stopping smugglers from sending people from the island aboard unseaworthy vessels.
But critics say Australia could be helping to block an escape route for genuine asylum seekers trying to flee persecution.
Thea Cowie reports.
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Tony Abbott says there are few more important humanitarian issues in the region than stopping the flow of asylum seeker boats.
He points to more than a thousand asylum seekers who have died at sea and says the retired Australian customs boats given to Sri Lanka will be used to avert future tragedies.
But the Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt says the patrol boats could actually contribute to more deaths.
"These military boats are going to be used to return the persecuted back to the persecutors. We should be looking at people who are fleeing this country and asking how we could help them, not returning them back into the hands of often times people who are their torturers. This is a decision for which Tony Abbott and his government should stand condemned."
The donation of the two patrol boats is also being criticised by asylum seeker advocates and members of Sri Lanka's Tamil community.
Sam Pari is a spokeswoman for one community group, the Australian Tamil Congress.
"It saddens me that the Australian Prime Minister fails to understand that the root cause of our asylum seeker crisis here is human rights abuses and the ongoing genocide of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. If this root cause can be fixed people won't be jumping on boats to travel the rough seas to come to Australia. We should be looking at the root cause and not looking at a band aid, quick fix solution."
But Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is rejecting suggestions Australia is helping the Sri Lankan government stop people fleeing human rights abuses.
He's told the ABC many asylum seekers leaving Sri Lanka are doing so for economic reasons.
"Well 79 out of the last 79 people who sought to illegally come to Australia by boat were screened out by immigration officials. 73 of them were all returned back and six are on their way back very shortly. I remember (former Foreign Minister) Senator (Bob) Carr referred to it as economic migration. Now I mean India is 30 kilometres away, Australia is 3000 kilometres away. The choice to come to Australia has very strong economic motivations."
The Coalition is also facing criticism over the lack of detail surrounding the two-million dollar gift of two Bay Class patrol boats recently retired from the Australian Navy.
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles has told the ABC he wants the government to place limits on Sri Lanka's use of the boats.
"What conditions are being applied to these boats to make sure that they are being used for the purpose for which they are being given? I mean, they are being given to combat people smuggling. I think the Australian people would want to know that that is what they will be used for, from the point of view of our own national interest, but also I think given the recent history of Sri Lanka. There's been a civil war going on and I think if you were to put the question in a different sense, and that is to say that the Australian Government was now giving a gift through Australian tax payers to enhance the Sri Lankan military, that would be an extraordinary move."
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison won't say if any restrictions will be placed on the Sri Lankan navy's use of the boats.
He says that's a matter which will be discussed privately and he's accused Labor of hypocrisy over cooperation with Sri Lanka, pointing to the former Labor government's donation of surveillance equipment to the island nation last year.
Former Labor Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr defended the gift to Sri Lanka at the time.
"Sharing intelligence with them is an important part of the plan, providing them with equipment and with training. They want to see us get out a message in Sri Lanka that if you give money to a people smuggler, you're not going to get to Australia."
The donation of patrol boats to the Sri Lankan navy comes after the recent arrest of several Sri Lankan naval officers on people smuggling charges.
Sri Lankan police say more naval personnel are under suspicion of people smuggling, and further arrests are expected.
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