No change to boat turnbacks, foreign neighbours told

Tom McIlroy and Emma Connors

Feb 13, 2023 – 5.53pm

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Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka were told Labor’s move to put refugees living in Australia onto a new pathway to permanent residency would not weaken hardline border protection rules, despite the Coalition predicting “an armada” of boat arrivals.

The decision to move 19,000 holders of temporary protection and safe haven enterprise visas on to a track for residency was flagged with countries including Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam last week, as Foreign Minister Penny Wong led regional talks in Adelaide on people smuggling.

Tom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent.

Emma Connors was South-east Asia correspondent from October 2019 until mid-2023, based in Jakarta and Singapore. She has previously edited Perspective and Opinion and has written extensively across the AFR and related titles.