‘They won’t be staying’
Border policy firm despite third WA boat arrival, PM says
Anthony Albanese says he has sent a “very clear message” that illegal boat arrivals will not be accepted into Australia after a group of asylum seekers were discovered in a remote part of WA.
Police have now apprehended a man who became separated from a group of 15 people who were found at the remote Mungalalu Truscott Airbase in the far north Kimberley Region on Friday afternoon.
Questioned over border security concerns, the Prime Minister argued there would be no changes made to the nation’s approach to border protection in response to the latest arrival.
“We have a very large coastline,” Mr Albanese said on Sunday. “What is clear, though, is that people who are unauthorised arrivals will not be settled in Australia.
“Operation Sovereign Borders principles will apply as they have been in this case.”
The boat arrival is understood to be the third illegal maritime landing on Australian soil since November.
A plane carrying the rest of the group to an offshore detention centre in Nauru departed RAAF Curtin base in Western Australia on Sunday morning, according to reports from The Australian.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson described the situation as a “failure” and claimed the arrival would incentivise people smugglers to attempt to enter Australia.
“Aerial surveillance hours under this government’s watch have dropped 20 per cent, maritime patrol days have dropped 12 per cent, and the result of that is people are getting through, they are getting onshore, and our border protection regime is being undermined,” he said.
“It’s no surprise that people smugglers are testing their (the government’s) will.”
Reports of the arrival have not been confirmed by either Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil or by the Australian
Border Force, as per standard practice.
“The Australian Border Force does not confirm or comment on operational matters,” an ABF spokesman said.
A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil did not give further details.
“As a longstanding practice we do not comment on operational matters,” they said.
In February, a boat carrying two groups of 39 Pakistan and Bangladesh foreign nationals was found on the Dampier Peninsula north of Broome, which followed a group of 12 reaching the Mungalulu Truscott Airbase in November.