Border control agency faulted:

Boat people enter Australian port

By Manjula Fernando

The hot topic of the Sri Lankan boat people or ‘illegal economic immigrants’ as the Australian authorities now call them, has once again hit the news with 66 illegal immigrants found in a wooden fishing trawler moving towards Australia as close as 200m to the shoreline.

This time, the trawler which is suspected to have taken off from a Sri Lankan port have surprised the Border Patrol Agency by entering one of their busiest ports, Geraldton in Western Australia in broad day light.

A source from Australia speaking to the Sunday Observer on the telephone said television and newspapers have been bombarded with the news of the latest boat arrival and were accusing border control and immigration authorities of major loopholes in their control mechanisms.

One newspaper said ‘Their arrival at Geraldton in the southern point, vessel carrying asylum seekers reached Australia, sparking Opposition ridicule and claims the Government’s border controls were in hopeless disrepair. Geraldton waterfront Dome Cafe owner Graham Sertorio said the boat got within 200m of the shoreline before being met by the harbour pilot vessel.

The Sri Lankan Navy has begun an investigation to find when and where the boat load of illegal immigrants intercepted in Australia had set off and whether it is from Sri Lanka as claimed by the Australian authorities.

The Navy has been thwarting likely illegal immigrants taking off from Sri Lankan waters and there was a lull during the past weeks until the surprise discovery last week.

“Our intelligence officers are working on this case now,” the Navy spokesperson Capt. Kosala Warnakulasiriya told the Sunday Observer.

Geraldton is more than 2,200km south of Christmas Island, the usual destination for asylum-seeker boats. This is said to be the 75th boat arrival in Australia this year, bringing a total of 4,552 passengers. The Australian media reported that this was a ‘record start to a calendar year’.

A local maritime expert said Australian investigators could trace the boat’s path to its origin by the GPS equipment in the boat.

The Australian Government on a number of occasions appreciated the efforts the Lankan Navy has been taking to intercept illegal boats bound for Australia. There have been hundreds of interceptions during the past.

During a visit of top Australian Border Control and immigration officials in November last year, Rear Admiral David Johnston of the Border Protection Command said, “I understand the challenges the Sri Lankan Navy is facing as an island nation (in intercepting small trawlers).”

The trawler reportedly had been on the seas for 44 days. The trawler contained women, men and children. They were to be transferred to Perth for initial paper work and then to Christmas Island since there seems to be some legal issues blocking transfers to Manus or Nauru from the mainland.

The men are to be placed in detention centres while the family units would be provided with temporary accommodation until their claims are verified. The Australian government maintains that those without valid claims will be flown back to Sri Lanka immediately.

Carrying a flag which read ‘Help, go to New Zealand’, it appeared to have stopped since a pregnant woman needed help. Two Aussie brothers who were the first to encounter the boat about 500 metres offshore said, the men in the trawler pleaded for help and at that time the boat was taking water.

This latest detection has come under heavy criticism from the Opposition. The small boat overloaded with people had come to the harbour in broad daylight undetected. Others have criticised Australia’s harsh attitude towards immigrants, due to the fact that the boat was heading to New Zealand circumventing Australia.

Curtain University Centre for Human Rights and Education, Researcher Caroline Fleay told WA News “The attempt to skirt Australia came as those who arrive here face lengthy detention and the prospect of being held offshore indefinitely”.

The Sri Lankan Navy has so far arrested over 3,000 people bound for Australia either mid sea or on shore. According to the Navy spokesman 243 people have been arrested from January to April 4 this year.