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April 28, 2025
BEN FORDHAM:
Border Force officials have had to rescue a group of asylum seekers from a Northern Territory beach. It's believed the five men arrived there on an illegal boat, and they slipped under the radar. The group was first spotted by a commercial helicopter pilot. It's understood the men had written S.O.S. in the sand and raised the flag in a bid to gain attention. The pilot alerted Border Force, and officials arrived a number of hours later, according to The Australian newspaper. The group may have been on Australian soil for several days before being discovered. And this isn't the first time how Aussie officials have been notified by civilians about illegal boat activity. Last year, a group of Chinese nationals was found on the side of the road 400km east of Darwin. They were eventually picked up by Border Force only after locals reported it to authorities. Senator James Paterson is the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, and he's on the line. Senator, good morning to you.
JAMES PATERSON:
Good morning, Ben.
BEN FORDHAM:
How does this happen?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, it's another shocking failure of border protection on this government's watch since Labor was elected three years ago. 28 boats at least have made the attempted journey to Australia, and five have made it all the way through to Australia. That never used to happen. And the key reason why it's happening now is this government has failed to deliver either the aerial surveillance hours or the maritime patrol days that the previous government did, and boats are slipping through undetected.
BEN FORDHAM:
Every time you say that, they push back by saying no, we haven't cut back on surveillance hours or anything else, but the facts speak for themselves. Once upon a time, we never had this happening. We always detected these boats before they arrived. Now we've got, you're saying, five all up that have made it to the mainland undetected?
JAMES PATERSON:
At least five that we know of. And that's just people smuggling ventures. There's also been a massive increase in illegal fishing in our northwest. Many of those have also come into Australian territory and onto the Australian mainland undetected. Some of these people are even able to, come, drop off asylum seekers, and leave completely undetected. Now, that never used to happen. This is virtually unheard of in Australian border protection history. But in the last three years on this government's watch, it's happening all the time. And I think it's because they just don't have the strength to stand by successful policies like Operation Sovereign Borders. In fact, they watered that down by getting rid of temporary protection visas, and people smugglers are now testing our resolve.
BEN FORDHAM:
How lame, that it's now left to local indigenous groups or commercial helicopter pilots to keep Australia safe.
JAMES PATERSON:
Exactly right, Ben. And that is reminiscent of relying on a Virgin Australia pilot to tell us that there was a live firing exercise by the Chinese Navy in the Tasman Sea. You know, when it comes to national security and defence. This is a government that has no idea, is too weak, and often too late.
BEN FORDHAM:
The Albanese government has yet to make any acknowledgement of this latest incident. The Immigration Minister, Tony Burke, says we do not confirm or comment on operational matters. I suppose you can't complain about all that much, because that's the line that the Coalition used to adopt. When these things happened, you'd say they're on water matters. We can't talk about them.
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, guess the difference here, Ben, this isn't an on-water matter. This is an onshore matter. I think it's a very different thing when people smugglers or illegal fishers are making it all the way to the Australian mainland. That never used to happen. So I think it demands a different degree of transparency, and I suspect the government will try and wait until after the election before they fess up about what happened here.
BEN FORDHAM:
What's likely to happen to these five men?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, hopefully following Operation Sovereign Borders procedures, they have already been taken to a third country to be processed and have their claims assessed, and hopefully they're never able to re-enter Australia as they did here. But if the government keeps underinvesting and under supporting Border Force and our defence assets in the region, and more people are going to get through, we do run the risk of a successful people smuggling operation, which is not in anyone's interest.
BEN FORDHAM:
It would be helpful if Tony Burke would tell us how many of these boats have actually arrived on the mainland, because, as you say, we know about five. There may be more. Should the Prime Minister be addressing this himself today?
JAMES PATERSON:
Absolutely. If Tony Burke is going to continue to be in hiding as he has for this campaign, I think he's only done two media interviews in the whole campaign. He's barely left his seat. I think he would be manning his pre-poll booths this week because he's worried about that. Then, at least the Prime Minister can stand up and answer questions about this today. So he'll be doing a press conference. He should be upfront and honest with the Australian people about what he knows, and when he knew it, and what the government's doing about it.
BEN FORDHAM:
We had the final leaders' debate last night between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese. The group of so-called undecided voters on the Channel Seven broadcast went with Anthony Albanese as the winner. How did you see it?
JAMES PATERSON:
Look, I think very clearly Peter won the debate last night, particularly on issues like cost of living and national security, but also on indigenous issues, in particular in relation to the Voice. The Prime Minister was very evasive in his answers about that. He wasn't clear about whether he's still committed to treaty and truth, which are the other parts of the Uluru Statement, now that his Voice project failed. And I thought the most bizarre moment of all of them, Ben, was when the Prime Minister asserted that the President of the United States does not have a mobile phone. I mean, does he seriously believe that? Or is this just another desperate attempt to avoid answering questions?
BEN FORDHAM:
Yeah, I think it's more likely that he just doesn't have the phone number. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you jumping on the line.
JAMES PATERSON:
Thanks, Ben.
ENDS