Illegal boat people
 

Can anyone explain what the Australian authorities do about illegal boat people? Do they send them home (:p), sink their boat (:thumbsup:), set fire to it (:ohmy:) or...... ? Rudd seems a little upset about what's happening! I feel a little sympathetic towards them but also why should many of us spend a great deal of money and wait months / years going through the correct procedures!!!

Re: Illegal boat people
 

No idea but killing them by sinking their boat seems a little extreme and the fire comment was a tad out of order considering recent events. :)

Re: Illegal boat people
 

From what I've read, Rudd is upset with the traffickers and Indonesia rather than the boat people themselves.

Normally they are sent to the offshore processing centre on Christmas Island but when that's been full in the past they have been sent to Baxter, SA or Naru.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

From what l read l think the boat people set fire to the boat themeselves so the Aussie navy could'nt then force them to turn the boat around and go back to indonesia, instead they would have to rescue them from the water and take them to OZ. OZ used to have a very tough policy under John Howard towards boat people and illegal immigrants they were ither all sent to some pacific island or locked up in a hell hole detention center in the middle of the hot outback surrounded by razor wire and electric fences, but Prime minister Rudd has softened the laws alot which may be why there are now alot more boat people coming,

Re: Illegal boat people
 

Article in the age recently said that 90% of boat people are subsequently found to be genuine refugees. Australia has an international obligation to shelter people in danger from harm, and gets relatively few refugees.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

Under the Pacific Solution, (devised to cut down on the numbers of illegal boat people) the asylum seekers were sent to offshore processing centres on islands such as Nauru, rather than be allowed to land on the Australian mainland.

This caused difficulties for the illegal boat people, and most of this traffic stopped.

(Who decided to put people who break the law into remote prisons :frown: )

The centre at Nauru was closed in Feb 2008 as promised in the last election.

The plan was to allow all illegals to enter the country, and be processed whilst living here, and then asked to leave if they were not accepted (if they could then be found)

The Christmas Island centre was also closed, but was re-opened in December 2008, to cater for the increasing boat people trade from 2008.


http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/779/40173


There have been a few instances of boat people setting fire to their boats themselves, to try to avoid being sent back.

The only instances of the Australian Authorities setting light to these boats is after they are empty, and they are destroyed for reasons such as maritime safety and other legitimate reasons.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

For 2008-2009 Australia has announced it will increase its Refugee and Humanitarian Programme from 13,000 places to 13,500 places.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/as...112008eng.html


I get the feeling that Amnesty international is not happy with the UK though, it says this about the UK... I was under the impression that the UK took much more than 500 or 750 refugees each year ? :confused:

Re: Illegal boat people
 

I have mixed feelings about the international obligation. Surely if people are fleeing from danger or harm in Indonesia, Malaysia would be a more logical place to flee to? IOW, a country whose language, culture and religion matches more closely their own.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

I'm sure they do. Maybe there's an off-list category?

Something I've noticed lately on my ride to work past a building which processes Asylum applicants is the sudden increase in the length of the queue outside it. It's more than doubled in length from what it was just a few weeks ago.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

Given the experience of other countries that allow asylum seekers onto the mainlaind and who subsequently dissapear; What is the problem with them being placed on an island off the mainland?

I agree the decision making process needs to be quick so as to be "humane" and either the asylum seeker taken to the mainland or sent home. As long as the holding centre is safe, secure, clean, appropriate so as to meet their needs then what's the problem?:confused:

Re: Illegal boat people
 

What l don't understand is that the middle eastern boat people fly to Indonesia then catch a boat to OZ and say they are genuine refuguees because if they are sent home they will be killed or imprisoned, if the govenment wanted to kill or lock them up why were'nt they arrested at the airport when they showed their passports and id's before they could board the plane to Indonesia. Also why do most of them burn their ID's and passports before they board the boats and lie about their real names to OZ immigration. l think most of them arent real refuguees , but l don't blame them if l lived in poverty in one of those deadful countries l would do the same thing.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

Your joking comment about setting fire to their boats is actually happening quite often, and for good reason. These boats carry with them a great number of species that Australia doesn't want ( bugs / bacteria ) so they prefer to set fire on these little boats rather than tow them in. The refugees are often not allowed on land ( if they set foot on land then they have rights, if they don't then they don't have rights ) they are deported to Papua Guinea and Indonesia. There was one occasion where indonesia denied a sinking ship ( they are all sinking , it's part of their tactic ) access to their port, Australia also denied them, hm... wonder what happened to that ship.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

I was under the impression that this number arrived each week but I suppose they are asylum seekers rather than refugees so they don't count.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

They put the plug back in until they reached New Zealand and then pulled the plug out again.

Re: Illegal boat people
 

:D