Policy on irregular maritime arrivals remains firm
The Rudd Government is not changing its policy on asylum seekers.
Under the Rudd Government, unaccompanied children are processed as a priority.
Ten unaccompanied children were transferred from Christmas Island to the mainland on 2 September 2009.
This is to enable the department to finalise their cases and provide proper support to this particularly vulnerable group of children.
The children were part of a group who arrived on Christmas Island on 7 May 2009 and they have been undergoing the relevant processing while on Christmas Island.
Their move to the mainland in the final stage of their processing is not a change of Government policy. The department is simply finalising the processing of this particularly vulnerable group of children in an environment where better services can be provided.
They have not been released into the broader community and remain under the care of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) centre.
The Opposition Immigration spokesman Sharman Stone is wrong to claim that their legal processing arrangements and entitlements have changed.
Dr Stone clearly does not understand the legislation introduced by the Howard Government. This makes no change to their legal status whatsoever. They are still offshore entry persons and do not have access to the onshore legal processes.
This is not unprecedented. This is not the first vulnerable group that this or the previous government has moved from offshore to the mainland before their visa status has been finalised. Exceptions have been made for vulnerable people or those with health issues, for example pregnant women or people who are seriously ill. Decisions such as these are made on a case-by-case basis.
The Rudd Government has maintained a system of mandatory detention and excision and made it clear that all irregular maritime arrivals will be detained and processed at Christmas Island while health, identity and security checks are undertaken.
The Rudd Government has also maintained extensive air and sea patrols and allocated $654 million in the Budget for measures to combat people smuggling.
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/media/media-releases/2009/ce09080.htm
Last update: 03 September 2009 at 16:10 AEST