August 8, 2024
illegal boats Illegal boats have been allowed to "run riot" under the Albanese government, Peter Dutton says, with four more foreign vessels intercepted off the Australian coast.
Mr Dutton accused Anthony Albanese of gutting Australia's surveillance capabilities since coming to government in 2022, adding: "If you take those resources away, people smugglers ... and those who are involved in illegal fishing and other activities ... they just run riot and that's what's happening under this prime minister."
In a massive test for newlyinstalled Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, the four boats were located off Kuri Bay, about 220km north of Derby, off WA.
full story page 8 Four illegal boats reeled in off WA Peter Dutton says illegal boats have been allowed to "run riot" under the Albanese government after another four foreign vessels were intercepted off the Australian coast.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, the Opposition Leader accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of gutting Australia's surveillance capabilities since coming to government in 2022.
"If you take those resources away, people smugglers and those who are involved in illegal fishing and other activities including running of drugs they just run riot and that's what's happening under this prime minister," Mr Dutton said in Darwin.
"We had our borders secure and under a Liberal-National Coalition government we can secure our borders again.
"But we know that the government has been conditioned to losing control of the borders."
The four boats were located off Kuri Bay, about 370km north of Broome, off north west Western Australia, on Tuesday.
Dambimangari traditional owner Adrian Lane was conducting cultural mapping of the area when he saw the first boat stuck in mangroves.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) was called in by local tour operator Peter Tucker and the officers found a further three foreign fishing boats.
Mr Tucker told Nine News there were about 10 men in each of the four boats, with all the men appearing to be in their 20s and 30s.
Opposition spokesman for home affairs James Paterson said over the past two years aerial surveillance of Australia's borders had dropped by 22 per cent, in addition to a 12 per cent fall in maritime patrol days.
"Labor has failed to protect Australia's borders and regular breaches like this is the result," he said.
"It's not just illegal fishing either three people-smuggling vessels reached the Australian mainland and territories in just the last two years.
"Two of them even dropped people off and returned again undetected a virtually unheard of event in Australian border protection history."
Senator Paterson called on newly-minted Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to "urgently address" the issues.
"He'll need to do a much better job than he did when he was last in the portfolio and oversaw 83 boat arrivals carrying 6634 people in just 80 days," Senator Paterson said.
On Tuesday night, an ABF spokesperson said the foreign fishing vessels were stopped by the Maritime Border Command as part of Operation Leedstrum, which focused on increasing patrols and response capabilities in far northwest Australia.
The spokesperson said the operation included increased staffing, patrol vehicles and a rotary wing asset for rapid response to any reporting from members of the public.
"The operational response is ongoing and ABF will not comment any further, (other) than (to) say ABF/MBC pursues strong enforcement action in cases of illegal foreign fishing," the spokesperson said.
Comment has been sought from Mr Burke's office.
