February 21, 2024
Anthony Albanese has no contingency plan to use the mothballed Christmas Island immigration detention centre as a back-up offshore option to Nauru, amid warnings of ongoing aerial surveillance cuts and more asylum seeker boats arriving off Western Australia.
The Australian can reveal the Albanese government will provide dozens of asylum seekers on Nauru the option of accessing financial resettlement packages if they return home or to a third country.
Under Coalition governments, asylum seekers were offered cash incentives known as "return or settlement packages" ranging from $3000 to $20,000.
The tailored settlement packages allowed asylum seekers to return to their home countries or third countries and prevented them from being stranded in Continued on Page 6
Continued from Page 1 costly Nauru or Papua New Guinea processing accommodation.
The voluntary packages, criticised at the time by Labor and human rights groups, varied in costs depending on the asylum seekers' origin.
Government sources on Tuesday rejected the Coalition's use of "cash incentives" but confirmed they maintained humanitarian assistance via settlement packages for asylum seekers who move out of the system into third countries or home.
Australian Border Force last week confirmed eight of 23 illegal maritime arrivals sent to Nauru in September and November last year were no longer on the island.
Before 39 asylum seekers arrived in Nauru over the weekend, after being found by locals on Western Australia's Dampier Peninsula, only 15 IMAs were housed in the refugee-processing centre.
Since September, 62 asylum seekers mainly Pakistani and Bangladeshi men have been sent to Nauru by ABF officials, including 51 who made landfall after being dropped-off by Indonesianlinked people smugglers in remote northern WA.
Until the arrival of 12 asylum seekers near the Truscott air base on Western Australia's far north coast in November, Operation Sovereign Borders had two Dash-8s conducting surveillance in the waters around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island at all times.
The Australian understands those planes alternated most weeks and were served by an engineering crew on each island.
However, since that asylum boat reached the Australian mainland three months ago, only one Dash-8 has been conducting surveillance in and around Christmas and Cocos islands. It is unclear if the other plane, which operated out of Broome, was diverted to aerial patrols closer to the West Australian coast.
ABF figures show a 20.7 per cent decrease in aerial flying hours and a 12.2 per cent fall in maritime patrol days in 2022-23, compared with aerial and maritime surveillance hours logged in 2020-21.
Indigenous people in local Beagle Bay communities have also expressed concerns about biohazard risks from food and other materials left behind by 39 asylum seekers near the Pender Bay camp. They told The Australian that ABF officials had not been seen visiting the landing or camp sites.
Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said the government must consider drawing up plans for Christmas Island to be used as an alternative offshore processing site, warning that more boats would arrive.
"I think it will come down to the volume of arrivals. If the numbers get overwhelming to Nauru's capacity then they will have to look at other choices and it's possibly a viable option," he said.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government had "no plan B if Nauru becomes full or is otherwise not able to be used".
"This is grossly negligent given we have seen at least a dozen boats and more than 300 people attempt the journey to Australia over just the last two years on their watch," Senator Paterson said.
The Christmas Island facility, which was ground zero during the asylum seeker crisis under the Rudd-Gillard governments, was last used by the Coalition as a quarantine facility during the pandemic and to house noncitizens who had visas cancelled over character concerns.
With the PNG refugee processing centres permanently closed, the vacant Christmas Island centre is the only offshore option for the Albanese government to reopen quickly if required.
Christmas Island locals say the main detention centre at North West Point remains "in contingency", with maintenance programs in place and minimal security staffing at the site.
The ABF continues to use the island for crew changes and refuelling surveillance planes.
As Peter Dutton ramped-up attacks over border security funding ahead of the March 2 Dunkley by-election, Anthony Albanese said "we don't talk about operational matters" and repeated warnings to asylum seekers they will "not be settled in Australia".
It came as Israr Abbasi, from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency people smuggling unit, said asylum seeker movements had dried-up in the wake of the deaths last June of more than 300 Pakistani nationals in a boat sinking off the coast of Greece.
He said the route to Australia had "been dormant" but might be reopened due to the security situation in Europe..
