Posted on 11/05/2003 10:57:47 PM PST by smpc
CANBERRA - The Australian government is considering its next move after an old fishing boat carrying 14 asylum seekers managed to land on the country's northern coast.
The boat, carrying what appears to be mostly Turkish Kurds, is only the second one known to have penetrated Australia's tough border security in more than a year.
The discovery has renewed debate over Australia's policy of sealing its borders to asylum-seekers who come by sea.
The latest group was discovered on Melville Island, a remote aboriginal reserve near Darwin in far northern Australia.
Peter Brister, the island's community housing manager, was among the first to spot them as they wandered on a local beach near the settlement of Milikapiti.
"There's four Indonesians and the rest from Turkey," he said. "They just asked apparently 'was this Australia?' and they wanted some water. They were very dry, out of water."
Government limits refugees
The Australian navy towed the vessel away from the island, but the next move is unclear.
The government, which already has a hard line on accepting refugees, wants to further limit the rights of this group to apply for refugee visas.
Critics used the incident to launch an attack on Australia's restrictive immigration policy, but Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone defended them.
FROM AUGUST 30, 2001: Australia tells UN it won't accept stranded refugees
The policy got world attention two years ago when troops prevented a Norwegian ship from unloading asylum-seekers on Australia's Christmas Island. The Tampa was carrying 433 people, mainly Afghans.
They were sent to off-shore processing camps in the South Pacific as a way of deterring other boat people from attempting to reach Australia.
Written by CBC News Online staff
To make it to Australia,illegals have to first pay thousands of dollars to get on the boats,and hope that they dont sink in the rough conditions and get eaten by sharks.Then they have to somehow dodge the Navy patrol.If they make it to land they have a thousand miles of desert to cross while enduring ungodly heat and dodging the worlds deadliest animals.If they make it to the inhabitated areas from there,and somehow go unnoticed from immigration agents,then they deserve to stay just for the effort.
Meanwhile, all it takes is a little cash and the right 'coyote', and it's goodbye Mexico, hello America! The worst they face is dehydration and maybe the odd rattlesnake or scorpion. Heck, I faced plenty of that on my hike of the Pacific Crest Trail through SoCal!
And, it should be noted, my wife and I encountered a group of five Hispanic-looking men who were not talkative -- this was less than fifteen air miles from the Mexican border. Being that they were already in the U.S., and we were maybe 15 trail miles from the Border Patrol station near Campo, we had no chance at turning them in anyway. And for all we really knew, they were just good old fashioned Mexican hikers! (Though I doubt it).
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