Europeans ‘look for advice on migrants’ from Australia

Europeans grappling with mass migration from Libya were seeking information about Australia’s controversial success in stopping asylum seeker boats reaching its shores, the Australian prime minister said yesterday.

Refugee advocates and human rights groups have criticised prime minister Tony Abbott’s conservative government over the drastic tactics it has employed under its Operation Sovereign Borders policy to stop the flow of people-smuggling boats heading from Indonesian ports with asylum seekers from Africa, the Middle East and south-east Asia.

Abbott did not identify which European country or countries had sought Australian advice.