Australia says boat people may be sent to remote island

SYDNEY: Australia will not accept a group of 85 mostly Sri Lankan boat people and may send them to a detention camp on the remote Pacific island of Nauru, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

The group, which includes two Indonesians, was intercepted in waters off northwestern Australia and transferred to the naval supply ship HMAS Success on Wednesday.

Australia has a strict policy of detention for asylum-seekers and Howard said the latest boatload provided an opportunity to demonstrate that the Government was maintaining its hardline against people-smugglers.

“This is a demonstration that we still have a very strong, effective border protection policy,” Howard told commercial radio.

“Clearly sending them to Nauru is an option, but we are assessing all of the options. We need some more information, but they will not be allowed onto the Australian mainland — that is certain.”

“Essentially they will be sent into indefinite exile on Nauru and have no way to access Australian due legal process,” David Manne of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre told AFP.

The small, wooden-hulled boat carrying the 85 men was intercepted about 50 nautical miles off the Australian territory of Christmas Island on Tuesday.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the vessel was spotted by Australian military aircraft five days ago and the HMAS Supply was sent to intercept it.

The Navy boat carried out repairs on the smaller vessel’s engine but later noticed it was not moving and again approached and found the craft was taking on water because its engine and hull had been sabotaged, he said.

Andrews said that while the men had made no formal claims as yet, early indications were that they would seek asylum in Australia.

The Nauru detention centre became the focus of global attention in 2001 when a boatload of Afghan refugees seeking asylum was offloaded on the island.

Last September, Australia sent seven Myanmar asylum seekers to Nauru as it reactivated the centre, which had stood empty for some months after its last occupant, an Iraqi, went to Australia for medical treatment.

Australia, Friday, AFP