Our federal government doesnt tell us how it is dealing with asylum seekers. So much for open government. From various reports, It appears to work like this. Australian officials intercept boats headed for Christmas Island (the closest Australian soil to Indonesia). It seems that sometimes they are less than a kilometre from Australian soil when intercepted. They are forced onto these motorised lifeboats, and given documentation stating that they are not to set foot in Australia. They are then locked in this boat, with possibly inadequate food and toilet facilities, towed under escort to near the border with Indonesian waters. They are then told to go to Indonesia, and the boat, costing at least AU$70,000, is abandoned. Maybe the Indonesian government will sell them back to Australia if we find we need more. I have no idea if this is legal; it sounds like it might be barely legal according to the letter of international law. But to intercept people like this, in such desperate circumstances, so near to their goal of asylum (mind you, they know we will lock them up for years even if their claims are found to be valid, and 90+% of claims are found to be valid), just seems unspeakably cruel and heartless to me.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 00:04:10 +0000
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