Asylum seeker boat intercepted: 41 Passengers

Latest News: 2300 WAST

Another boat carrying asylum seekers has been intercepted off Australia's north coast.







The boat carrying 41 passengers and four crew was found north-west of Ashmore Islands.

The Federal Government says those on board will be taken to Christmas island for health, security and identity checks.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia is out of control.

"This year in 2010 we've had 13 boats arrive, we've had more than 700 people arrive on those boats in just seven weeks," he said.

"This is an extraordinary level of arrivals for a new year. In this period of time it took six months last year to have that many people arrive, so it really is escalating.

"If it continues at this rate at 100 people a week, then we could see 5,000 people arrive this year.

"That would eclipse all previous records and they're arriving because of the policies of this Government.

"Last year, the UNHCR's own figures for the nine months to September showed that Australia's asylum applications increased five times as much as they did around the world."

Meanwhile, the NT inquest into the deaths of five Afghan asylum seekers who were killed when their boat exploded last April heard criminal charges could be laid.

Three Afghan refugees are accused of deliberately setting fire to the SIEV 36 near Ashmore Reef.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Stephen Walsh, QC, said the evidence suggested that the three Afghan refugees acted together to implement a plan and the explosion was caused by a series of deliberate acts.

Mr Walsh told the inquest the fatal explosion could have been prevented if the Navy had fully searched the SIEV 36, secured the unleaded petrol on board, and confiscated all matches and lighters.
-ABC

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IMPORTANT NEWS TO THE PUBLIC: 105 Afghan Asylum Seekers

Hazara News Western Australia


It is believed that 105 Afghan asylum seekers have been feared to have drowned on the month of October 2009. As a result, several inquiries have been made to HNWA from relatives and friends of those who might be aboard that boat.

One enquiry is from: Sayed Ali'Sha
The following are the names of his relatives and friends who are originated from "Malistan" a town in Afghanistan:

+ Sayed Sha Chaman
+ Dawood
+ Kazim
+ Sarwar'Sha
+ [hajiawgho]* * note: name may be spelled incorrectly

To contact Sayed Ali'Sha for more on that bases: hussaini516@yahoo.com

If you believe that you might know any one from that boat or in fact any relative info regarding the asylum seekers, then please don't hesitate to contact us at hazaranewswa@yahoo.com or visit us at www.hazarawa.blogspot.com

To contact Hazara News Western Australia: hazaranewswa@yahoo.com

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Abbott vows to stop asylum seekers: 48 asylum seekers arrive

A coalition government would return to a hardline stance on asylum seekers, turning some boats back and creating a class of visas which don't confer permanent residency to those granted protection.





Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made the Liberal Party's intentions clear in Darwin on Saturday, warning that at the current rate there was likely to be 5000 asylum seekers arrive by boat by the end of the year.

He said Labor had inherited a robust and effective border protection system but it had been progressively unwound, paving the way for the current border crisis.

"I am concerned that people are going to be brought directly to the mainland," he told reporters.

"And it seems that under Mr Rudd, boat people have got a highway to Australia and it's no wonder that they keep coming."

Mr Abbott said the opposition had formed a special shadow cabinet committee to formulate strategies to stop the flow of asylum seeker arrivals, which could be implemented from day one of a coalition government.

An effective border protection policy required four key elements, starting with a rigorous commitment to offshore processing, he said.

It would also feature a special visa category for unauthorised arrivals to ensure that permanent residency was not an automatic right while governments should be prepared, under the right circumstances, to turn back boats.

"The coalition is committed to pursuing policies based on these principles to ensure that Australia's borders are safe," Mr Abbott said in a joint statement with opposition justice and customs spokesman Michael Keenan and immigration spokesman Scott Morrison.

The coalition committee will comprise Mr Keenan as convenor, Mr Morrison, opposition deputy leader Julie Bishop, defence spokesman David Johnston, shadow attorney-general George Brandis, opposition parliamentary secretary Jason Wood and former coalition immigration minister Philip Ruddock.

But a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the Rudd government already did much of what Mr Abbott proposed, while other elements were a return to discredited coalition policies with which Mr Ruddock was associated.

"It's essentially working back to the Howard policies of the past and we are not surprised by that," he said.

The spokesman said the government already worked extensively with source countries and regional nations to stem the flow of asylum seekers while the former Howard government had tried temporary protection visas - and they proved a dismal failure.

The major point of difference was the proposal to turn boats around, he said.

"Our current policy which we think is working is that we escort boats, if they are seaworthy, to Christmas Island where their claims are processed."

The most recent boat arrived in Australian waters on Friday evening, the 12th so far this year.

The vessel, intercepted by a navy patrol boat off Ashmore Island, carried 48 passengers and two crew.

A total of 667 asylum seekers have arrived by boat this year and all have been transported to Christmas Island for processing.

The government is planning to expand the facility from its current 1800 bed capacity to 2300.
-AAP

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Asylum seekers threaten suicide-57 asylum seekers in Indonesian detention centre

A GROUP of 57 asylum seekers shipwrecked en route to Australia is refusing to enter an Indonesian detention centre, with at least three threatening suicide.



The Afghans were left stranded on the eastern Indonesian island of Sabu when their boat was ruined by heavy seas on January 13.

Indonesian authorities now want to move the asylum seekers into a detention centre in nearby Kupang, in West Timor.

But the Afghans - 50 men, five women and two children - insist they want to continue their journey to Australia.

"Two tried to commit suicide by banging their heads into a wall," senior local official Dominggus Widu Hau said.
"One tried to slit his wrist, but it didn't happen.

"They are now in better condition and have joined their friends again."

Officials from the International Organisation for Migration are in talks with the Afghans, who are being housed in an old mosque, Widu Hau said.
-Herald Sun

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Asylum-seeker boat sneaks into Christmas Island cove: 181 Asylum Seekers

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THE Department of Immigration and Citizenship was taken by surprise yesterday when Christmas Island residents spotted a large boat carrying almost 200 asylum-seekers motoring into Flying Fish Cove.



Residents of the suburb known as The Kampong saw the boat from the windows of their waterfront flats as it approached the jetty shortly after 3pm local time yesterday (7pm AEDT).

The navy vessel HMAS Larrakia was standing off the cove when the boat arrived, and Immigration officers rushed to the scene.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said last night the boat had 181 passengers, including women and children, and four crew on board. It is understood some of those on board are Hazaras from Afghanistan.

The process of unloading the asylum-seekers began about 4pm.

They are the ninth boatload of asylum-seekers to be unloaded at Christmas Island this year.

Before this boatload, there were 1595 asylum-seekers in the island's detention centre, which has a capacity of 1848.
-The Australian

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