Australia’s asylum crackdown a failure: Opposition

A dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat in recent months is proof that the government’s tough new measures to fight the problem are not working, the opposition Labour Party said today.

However, the Government said its policies would soon be a success once people smugglers realised that it was no longer easy to secretly enter Australian waters.

According to Steve Ingram, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, the number of refugees who risk their lives crammed into ramshackle boats run by people smugglers is expected to begin dropping early next year.

Asylum seekers have been one of the major issues in the November 10 parliamentary elections after prime minister John Howard’s new policy of using the navy to turn boats away boosted his Government’s standing in the polls.

Those who defy the navy or whose boats are unseaworthy are picked up and shipped to detention camps built by Australia on Papua New Guinea and Nauru, two impoverished Pacific islands that are major recipients of Australian aid.

Fearful of losing votes, Labour leader Kim Beazley supported Howard’s new policy.

However, the number of people coming has continued to rise. In September and October, 1,823 people sought refuge in Australia, almost four times the number in the same two months in 2000.

Ingram said the number in July and August was about the same.

That means the number in the first four months of Australia’s fiscal year nearly equals the level of the previous two years.

In the 12 months ending June 30, 2001, 54 boats carrying 4,141 people arrived.

Beazley criticised the Government today, saying the new policy was not working. He said regional agreements were needed with countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia which were staging posts for the boat people.

"Despite all the legislation that we have supported, despite the fact that you have got the navy out there on patrol, it is quite evident that more needs to be done ... and that something more is ... an agreement in our region," Beazley said.

He says if he wins office, his immigration and foreign minister will immediately be sent into the region to negotiate agreements on the boat people.

Ingram said the tougher measures were taken because of the increasing flow of illegal immigrants. According to intelligence received by the Department of Immigration, the new policy was now deterring people, but those already in the pipeline would continue to come for some months yet, he said.

"We have said all along that the people already in the pipeline who’ve already paid their money to the people smugglers are probably still going to try to come," he said.