12:15 AEST Sat Oct 1 2011
Share
The federal opposition says the latest boat arrival shows how easily the Malaysia people-swap deal would be exhausted.
A boat believed to have 70 asylum seekers on board was intercepted on Saturday morning.
It was the second boat to arrive in Australian waters this week.
Since the Malaysia deal was signed in July, 728 people and 24 crew have been picked up and taken to Christmas Island for processing.
"Ten boats have now turned up in just 10 weeks, highlighting just how easily people smugglers can overwhelm this flawed and failed Malaysian arrangement," opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said in a statement after the latest arrival.
He cited immigration department evidence to a Senate inquiry into the Malaysian deal, that the cap of 800 people to send overseas represented eight to 10 boat arrivals.
The immigration official told the inquiry the department believed this would be enough to deter asylum seekers from taking up people smugglers' offers.
Opposition border protection spokesman Michael Keenan said in fact people smugglers had benefited from the government's efforts.
"The only real winners in this game are the people smugglers, who are taking advantage of a Labor government that has kicked so many own goals they're becoming the joke of the region," he said in a statement.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий