November 28, 2024
Labor has come under renewed pressure over the country's border security after new video emerged of a group of people, suspected to be asylum seekers or illegal fisherman, standing on a remote road on Australia's northern coastline.
The footage believed to be from near the Cobourg Peninsula, roughly 400km east of Darwin appears to show eight men and one woman, huddled on the side of a road on Tuesday night.
It is understood they have since been intercepted and taken into the care of Australian Border Force and confirmed as being Chinese.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the latest potential arrival heaped more pressure on Labor's management of the country's borders.
"This reported boat arrival, if confirmed, would represent yet another failure of the Albanese government's weak border protection regime," he said. "Their failure to deliver adequate maritime patrol days and aerial surveillance hours has exposed our borders to people smugglers and illegal fishers who think they can succeed on Labor's watch.
"Only a strong Coalition government can restore the deterrent effect of the full Operation Sovereign Borders." A source said locals called police when they came across the group.
"They were on the side of the road so maybe they wanted to be found," the source said.
NT Police and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke were contacted for comment.
An Australian Border Force spokeswoman said the organisation did not comment on operational matters.
The exact location of the landing has yet to be established, with a Croker Island source suggesting the group was discovered on the mainland adjacent to South Goulburn Island.
If the locals' suspicions are correct it would represent the second unauthorised arrival in less than a month.
Local rangers recently rescued four foreign nationals from Croker Island who they say were dumped there by an illegal fishing vessel.
According to the rangers, the men said they were from China, and were whisked away by authorities, with their current status unknown.
The suspected illegal arrival comes amid increasing incursions from Indonesian fishing vessels into Australian waters.
