INTERVIEW - RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST WITH FRAN KELLY, ALISON CARABINE, SHARMAN STONE AND GORDON THOMSON
22 September 2009
Subject: Asylum seekers
KELLY: Processing asylum seekers offshore has been the centrepiece of Australia's border protection policy, first under the Howard Government, and now under the Rudd Government. Refugee hopefuls are currently detained and processed on Christmas Island, before stepping on to the mainland.
But that could be about the change, with the recent sharp spike in the number of arrivals. Six unauthorised vessels have been intercepted in the past fortnight, pushing the Christmas Island detention facility to breaking point.
The Howard Government responded to the post Tampa influx of illegal immigrants with the Pacific solution, remember that? Sending asylum seekers off to Nauru and PNG, for detention?
Well now the Rudd Government is working on something of a Darwin solution, but only as a last resort, as our political editor, Alison Carabine, reports from Canberra.
CARABINE: Australia's border protection capabilities are being tested by an influx of unauthorised arrivals. All up, more than 1300 asylum seekers have landed on Australia's doorstep this year, the latest being an uncrewed vessel, with 54 people on board, which was rescued on the weekend, north of the Cocos Islands.
Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, is blaming so-called push factors, including major civil conflicts in several source countries.
O’CONNOR: Currently we have conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka, and as a result, you'll see more people seeking to get to First World countries, and of course that includes Australia.
CARABINE: Seasonal factors also play a part, authorities are bracing for more arrivals, who will try to take advantage of the calmer seas between South East Asia and Australia.
But the Shadow Immigration Minister, Sharman Stone, says the Rudd Government's decision to unwind John Howard's strong border protection policy, is directly responsible for the surge, which has been underway since August last year.
Abandoning the Pacific solution, which involved offshore processing on Nauru and Manus Island, and replacing temporary protection visas with full residency rights, sent a strong message to people smugglers, that Australia is once again an easy touch.
STONE: And of course the thing that changed back last August, that was the abolition of the temporary protection visa commencement, and we've had an unravelling, or announcements ever since then, of what was before that, perceived to be strong border protection immigration policy. So now you've got the route well and truly back in business.
CARABINE: Brendan O'Connor says the problem is being taken seriously, pointing out the Government's $650 million strategy to combat people smugglers, and intercept their boats. He says the Opposition's criticism is illogical.
O’CONNOR: Yeah, every time the Liberal Party talk about this matter, the only thing that goes overboard is the truth. The Liberal Party has never had, and indeed doesn't have currently, a policy on boat arrivals. They demand, they say that the Government should take action, but offer no solutions. They didn't oppose the changes that we made to the temporary protection visa, they didn't seek to disallow any regulation, in relation to our changes to immigration policy, and the facts do not substantiate their assertion.
CARABINE: The Rudd Government has retained the eight-year-old practice of transferring all asylum seekers to Christmas Island, for mandatory health, identity and security checks, but the island's recently opened $400 million detention centre, is fast filling up. There are more than 750 refugee hopefuls housed on the island, just shy of the centre's maximum capacity of 800 places. Throw in the 150 fly in, fly out immigration staff, contractors and service providers, and Christmas Island is close to tipping point.
The island's shire president, G ordon Thomson, is unphased, the detention centre has become a top money spinner for the tiny territory, and canny islanders are looking at ways to expand facilities. A wing attached to the mothballed Christmas Island casino, may be reopened to cope with the overflow.
THOMSON: The resort owner is refurbishing the staff quarters, the staff quarters that were used by resort employees in the past, have been let go, but they're being painted up and refurbished, so that they could be used. I don't know if there's any contract, but certainly the owner of those buildings is hoping to rent them out to the department, that may happen.
CARABINE: Mr Thomson says some of the pressure has been alleviated by policy changes under Labor, which has fast tracked applications for asylum.
THOMSON: Our fear in the Howard years was that it would be turned into some sort of permanent prison for people that the Government had to hang onto for years, but we're seeing a different regime in place, it is being used to process applications for asylum, they're being processed, I think the average is 100 days, so anybody who lands on Christmas Island, in general the figure is 100 days, and their applications are processed. They're either taken off the island, to resettlement on the mainland, or they're sent back to where they come from.
CARABINE: But, if the rush of unauthorised arrivals continues, the Government will need alternative accommodation. It's drawing up contingency plans to use the northern immigration centre in Darwin, which can hold up to 400 people.
STONE: It's a policy in chaos at our end, and all this Government seems able to do, or to be interested in doing, is looking for more beds on Christmas Island, or indeed looking at spill-over capacity, say up in Darwin now.
CARABINE: Sharman Stone will be in the Top End today, inspecting the facility. She says illegal immigrants processed on the mainland, may be given judicial review rights, which are not available to asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island, which is excised from the migration zone.
STONE: If you're able to appeal a rejection of your application via the court, if you in fact make it to the mainland, compared to if you are intercepted, still in the migration excise zone, it's when people go on appealing year after year against a negative decision, that you have these issues of how long should a person be in detention, and that becomes very problematic, and concerning.
CARABINE: But Brendan O'Connor says Darwin will only accept people who have already been assessed on Christmas Island.
O’CONNOR: The minister has indicated that his preference would be to ensure that we would have those that have already gone through some forms of assessment before they be assessed in that centre, if the need ever arose.
CARABINE: Sharman Stone is in no doubt the need will arise sooner, rather than later.
STONE: This is a new era of anything goes, an open back door.
KELLY: There we go again. Shadow Immigration Minister, Sharman Stone, who will tour the Darwin Detention Centre today. It's currently used predominantly to accommodate suspected illegal fishermen.
Political editor, Alison Carabine with that report.
