Flak for PM Rudd over boat people

By Manjula FERNANDO

As Christmas Island marked the arrival of its 110th boat this week, the Rudd Government has been criticized and blamed for the growing number of boat people.

In an article in the Australia's Herald Sun, writer Andrew Bolt says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 'compassionate' immigration policy over John Howard's strict stance on boat people, has created a lot of misery instead of relief with more boat arrivals, more people on detention under extreme conditions in an overflowing camp and more bodies in the sea.

During the six years of the Howard regime, only 18 boats with illegal immigrants had arrived in Christmas Island.

However last year there had been 61 boats that arrived in the Island. During the past three months, 32 boats carrying another 2000 people had reached Australian waters.

The article claims, since the changes in policy in dealing with the boat people, at least 53 illegal immigrants heading to Australia had met their fate at sea.

According to the writer, the claims of real refugees have also been pushed to the corner by the people with concocted claims and who could afford to pay $10,000 or more to smugglers to sail them to Christmas island as refugees.

"No, Rudd cannot escape the blame. His policies encouraged the people smugglers that John Howard had put out of business, and gave hope to boat people (many of them actually economic "refugees") that if they could reach Australia, they'd stay."

To the Government's claim that these people were fleeing new conflicts including that in Sri Lanka the writer says "In fact, Sri Lanka's war was not new, having started 25 years ago, and it ended last year. And only a quarter of the boat people are Sri Lankans anyway."

Meanwhile with the announcement of the Australian Government that the new refugee claims of Sri Lankans and Afghans will not be processed for three and six months respectively, 30 alleged refugees detained at MErak camp in Indonesia had fled the detention facility.

Indonesia had expressed worry that this action may scuttle the recent tentative agreement they reached with the Sri Lankan boat people ending a six month stand off. A spokesman for the boat people, Nimal has said 30 of their 254 people have escaped from the boat and may seek help of agents to ship them to Australia.

The Australian decision will not turn away the boats arriving there but instead they will not be able to apply for asylum.