November 29, 2024
Border is open all hours People smugglers exploiting lack of patrols to land asylum seekers around Darwin A drop in marine patrols and plane surveillance hours along our northern border is being blamed for a "new trend" of Chinese nationals reaching Australia illegally by boat.
Nine people have been taken to Nauru after they were found seemingly stranded by a roadside on the remote north coast of the Northern Territory on Tuesday, with the group at least the fifth incident of intercepted illegal arrivals from China this year.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Thursday that "within 24 hours of being apprehended, the individuals were no longer in Australia".
"This continues the record that there has not been a single successful people smuggling venture to Australia for many years," he said.
"There are only three kinds of people who seek to undermine our border protection policies Liberals, Nationals, and criminal people smugglers."
But his office did not respond to a series of follow-up questions about the incident, including whether the Chinese nationals eight men and one woman were asylum seekers or illegal fishers and if more was being done to increase the volume of border patrols.
Emergency management Minister Jenny McAllister said she had no information about the incident when asked during a press conference on Thursday.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the latest arrival of Chinese nationals as part of a possible people-smuggling venture is "further evidence of a new trend".
"China is not a traditional source of illegal maritime arrivals and the Northern Territory is not a traditional destination, but thanks to the Albanese government's failure to deliver adequate maritime patrol days and aerial surveillance hours, people smugglers are again testing our resolve," he said.
"They must fix it urgently before it escalates like last time Tony Burke was Immigration Minister."
In June, nine Chinese citizens attempting to reach Australia were rescued by fishermen off southern Java and detained after they claimed they were pushed back into Indonesian waters by the Australian Border Force.
Indonesian media reported in late May, two Chinese nationals had almost made land near Darwin before they were sent back to Indonesia, while a group of 10 Chinese reached the Australian mainland in early April, and that same month a group of six Chinese and six smugglers was intercepted by Indo nesian authorities while trying to make for Australia.
A growing number of Chinese have attempted to seek asylum in Australia, with government figures showing more than 2300 had applied for protection visas this year.
The number outstripped every other country since January this year, overtaking Vietnamese nationals from February. It has coincided with an economic downturn in China, with the US also recording a boom in Chinese asylum seekers, with 37,000 picked up up from about 3800 in 2022.
