Boat in distress, expert panel, Coalition arrogance, Greens policy, Navy patrol boats
Friday, 10 August 2012
Interview with Sabra Lane, ABC AM
Elizabeth Jackson: Australia's Navy has rescued another boat of asylum seekers in Indonesian waters.
More than 200 people were on board, making it the largest number of people on one vessel seeking asylum under the Gillard or Rudd governments.
Those rescued have been taken to Christmas Island for processing.
It comes as Defence has ordered a check of its Armidale class of patrol boats, the boats used to intercept asylum seeker vessels. Major cracks were found near the engine room of one of them and cracking has also been found in two other boats.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, has spoken to our chief political correspondent Sabra Lane about the rescue and the cracking.
Chris Bowen: Well, this boat was rescued by the Australian Navy. It had reported difficulty. People have now been transferred to Christmas Island and they'll be processed of course in line with our normal procedures.
Sabra Lane: Why specifically did they need rescuing?
Bowen: Well, look, the boat had reported itself in distress, as I understand it. And as is normally the case, there's contact between the Indonesian and Australian authorities, and operational authorities make their decision about how best to handle the situation.
Lane: Was it in Australia's waters?
Bowen: This particular boat was in Indonesia's search and rescue zone, as I understand it. But there's always contact between Australia and Indonesia about the best way of handling the situation.
Lane: Do we know where the people are from?
Bowen: They're from a combination of places, as is normally the case. There's a combination of Sri Lankans, Iranians, Afghans and Pakistanis.
Lane: This is the largest number of people to arrive on one single boat under this Labor Government; more than 7000 people for this year. As Julia Gillard said when she was in Opposition: another boat, another policy failure.
Bowen: Well, what we have here is a failure to implement a policy which all the experts say will clearly work, which is the implementation of the Malaysia agreement. That is a failure of the Parliament to allow the government to get on and implement its policy.
Hence why we've said the time for political point scoring is over, the time is to get on with the job. That's why we've appointed the expert panel as a circuit breaker. And in coming days, we'll obviously see its recommendations and we'll be working very hard to see that circuit breaker implemented.
Lane: Is there much point to this? I mean, as you've said, the expert panel is due to report, I think it's on Monday. But given the Greens and the Coalition have both said they won't change their policy positions on this, effectively it's your problem, you're the Government, you have no effective border protection policy.
Bowen: Well, let's see what the panel recommends, first point. And then obviously we'll work to see each recommendation is worked through and implemented.
Second point, in relation to the Greens, I've said in the past plenty about their policy stance and how I think it is unworkable and unsustainable.
But I do give the Greens credit for this: they've said they'd take it to their party room and they'd talk through the recommendations. I give them credit for at least saying they'll consider the recommendations of the expert panel.
In relation to the Liberals, their position is of course continuing to be very disappointing. They say it doesn't matter what the panel recommends, it doesn't matter how strong their recommendations are, what the evidence is, what the intelligence is, what the basis for their case is – they will just ignore this expert panel. Mr Morrison's even been so insulting as to call it a 'so-called expert panel'.
These are three very eminent Australians and I think the approach of Mr Abbott and Mr Morrison has been quite disrespectful to them, quite disrespectful to the Australian people who want to see this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion.
Lane: Getting back to the Greens, you've said that they'll take it to the party room. Do you honestly think that they're going to change their position, given how strident they have been on this issue?
Bowen: They've been strident but they've also said they'll look at the panel's recommendations, they agreed to participate in the expert panel. Now it's a matter for them as to how they respond. But I'm saying that at least they deserve credit for not ruling out its recommendations in a carte blanche fashion, just like the Liberal Party has.
Obviously, every party has its own processes. We respect that. We would respect it if the Liberal Party said they would need to work through their own internal processes. Obviously, the Government's got its own internal processes; the Greens have their processes.
Now, let's see the strength of the panel's recommendations. Let the panel get on and do its job, not far to go now, a couple of days, its recommendations will be made to the government, handed to the government and made public and then handed to the Parliament as well.
Lane: There are reports this morning in The Australian that Australia's patrol boats are cracking up under the strain of intercepting this increased number of asylum seeker boats. Are the boats cracking up?
Bowen: Well ,look, obviously the Navy will comment on its own operational activities. I know the Chief of Navy has been working to improve and change the way our patrol boats are maintained.
Obviously, there has been a high operational tempo in the north of Australia for a range of reasons. And obviously, regardless of what's happening, there will always be a considerable workload on Australia's naval vessels in the north and the Navy will continue to manage that.
Lane: Is it due to the increased tempo that these problems are being highlighted now or is it a –
Bowen: Look, I would have thought there's always a range of circumstances. And of course, there's been increased operational tempo in the north due to an increase in asylum seekers, of course that's the case. That would be one of the things which has increased the operational tempo of these vessels, but they'd also be doing other work as well.
See: Index of Speeches
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb189139.htm
Last update: Friday, 10 August 2012 at 12:09 AEST