Refugee Boats; The Timeline – Updated to August 8th. Posted on August 8, 2013 by archiearchive FCD This list is based on what is being reported in the MSM and what I can find from a couple of specialist sites. This is to give a layman’s impression of what is going on and may say more about the MSM than the facts. One day soon, I shall ask the relevant Government Departments for authoritative information. ********************************************************* Aug 8th; No boats reported in the MSM. No references to boats in distress on AMSA although HMAS Maryborough has arrived in Flying Fish Cove from the North. The Age has recognised that there has been a “Drop-off in boat arrivals” with a comment from Minister Burke about a 100 person capacity vessel with 30 people on board leaving Indonesia around three days ago. Aug 7th; From AMSA 070000 UTC AUG 13 – AMSA07ASYLUM SEEKER VESSEL WITH 117 PERSONS ONBOARD REQUESTING ASSISTANCE IN POSITION 06-55.1S 105-00.5E AT 062049UTC. ACV Triton is not involved. Interestingly, there are no boats reported in the MSM except for a report of 67 people arriving at Christmas Island on the ABC. Is this a single boat or is it two? I shall treat it as two boats with 184 people on board subject to further information. 117 of those people may be taken straight back to Indonesia. Possibly two boats reported today. One in the Sundra Strait just 15 Km from Indonesian soil. I doubt if those 117 people will arrive on Christmas Island. The ABC report seems to indicate a second vessel although there was no alert issued by AMSA. Scott Morrison spent over half an hour on ABCNews24 around 9am WST trying to encourage the People Smugglers to send more boats to Australia. no boats Aug 6th; No boats reported in the MSM Still no boats but there is a puff piece in the Murdoch Press. David O’Shea has written that the “Tough policy fails to sink in“. Every word from the leadership in PNG and Nauru is being over-analysed by the media and the L-NP to show confected inconsistencies and Scott Morrison is beginning to foam at the mouth because his business model has been destroyed! I repeat – Still no boats! Aug 5th; No boats reported in the MSM Ten days with only two boats since the Manus Island solution was announced. A survey of the National Dailies reveals no comment about the lack of boat arrivals or of the lives not lost. There is, instead, just a continuing beat-up of the allegedly brutal treatment of asylum seekers living in detention. To me the key word is “LIVING”! There was a boat which sank in Indonesian waters but the victims were Indonesian and the vessel sank between Indonesia and Malaysia. Aug 4th; No boats reported in the MSM PM Rudd signs a deal with Nauru to take an unlimited number of asylum seekers. Although Nauru has a population of only 10,000 one is beginning to wonder if there will be any overflow from Manus. If there will be any new flood of asylum seekers arriving by boat. I am waiting to hear the details of an increase in processing in Indonesia and subsequent resettlement, in a safe way, with no drownings, in Australia. Providing that that resettlement in no way affects the racist bogans of Western Sydney who have helped bring us to this terrible state. Aug 3rd; No boats reported in the MSM Aug 2nd; No boats reported in the MSM Aug 1st; Two boats reported in the MSM (100 people, 20Km sth of java ) (75 people off Ashmore Reef) Michael Smith has got an apparently legitimate report today while not even the Oppn Spokesthing on Refugees and Racism has mentioned any new arrivals. Only the movement of some old arrivals from Christmas Island to Manus Island. Late in the day I found reports of TWO vessels as shown above. Both reports were below news of Manus Island transfers. Not headlines. July 31st; No boats reported in the MSM July 30th; No boats reported in the MSM July 29th; No boats reported in the MSM July 28th; No boats reported in the MSM July 27th; No boats reported in the MSM JULY 26th; Report of “arrival of 1300 people on 16 boats since . . . the PNG solution on July 19.” and that Rudd has said the flow of boats was unlikely to stop before the election, whenever that is to be. In another report, the arrivals were set at, “Eight boats with 638 suspected asylum seekers on board have been intercepted since Friday’s the so-called PNG Solution came into effect.” It seems the print media may be a little astray with its numbers. Not having access to all the print media I am at a loss as to the real numbers. Later that day there was a headline in the ABC Online News “Death toll from asylum boat sinking rises as Australia accuses people smugglers of lying about PNG policy – Updated 26 July 2013, 16:47 AEST“ JULY 25th; Tony Abbott released his “Operation Sovereign Borders” thought bubble. JUNE 20; The Sydney Morning Herald stated – “So far this year, 12,194 asylum seekers have arrived on 180 boats.” That is around a boat a day and does not include boats which disappeared or sank in Indonesian waters. Yes! There was a major problem happening and drastic action needed to be taken to solve the problem and to save lives. JULY 19th; Kevin Rudd and Peter O’Neill announce that all refugees who arrive via boat will, in future, be sent to Manus Island and have no hope of resettlement in Australia. Over the next three days, the Abbott-led Opposition went from disapproval to Approval and back to disapproval. The Greens’ Milne and SHY disapproved automatically and religiously stuck to their position.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 02:42:16 +0000
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