Rudd asylum policy a leaky boat to tragedy

The inevitability of a replay of the 2001 SIEV-X disaster, with the loss of more than 350 lives, has undeniably increased since the Rudd Labor Government softened its approach to asylum seekers.

Such is the sensitivity of Laborto the issue however, that any reference to the people smugglers who exploit this trade in human misery is greeted with shouts of ``racist'' from the Government benches. Anthony Albanese, the Government Leader of the House, was forced to withdraw some particularly ungracious remarks a few days ago (he later claimed he had not called out ``racist'', but he still withdrew his comment). When Opposition immigration spokesman Dr Sharman Stone attempted to produce figures supporting her argument that the number of people-smuggling vessels attempting to reach Australia had surged since the Rudd Government watered down the Immigration Act, Labor MPs voted to deny her the opportunity to table the facts. But the evidence shows that while five people-smuggler boats reached Australia since August when the Rudd Government changed the law, and 15 were stopped by the Indonesian authorities, it was a different story for the previous 10 months when not a single people-smuggler boat was detected. People smuggling dwindled away to just a handful of attempts between 2002 and 2007, Dr Stone told The Sunday Telegraph. ``The Rudd Government's new policy no longer takes into account how the person arrived in Australia, or how long they have spent in other countries since leaving their homeland,'' the Victorian MP said. ``Within days of this Rudd policy softening, people smugglers were back in business.'' Before the Howard government took a stand against people smuggling, thousands of people paid millions of dollars to smugglers to ferry them to Australia in increasingly unseaworthy boats. In 2000 alone, 54 boats with more than 4000 people on board arrived, and hundreds lost their lives as other boats sank. ``People-smugglers don't give a dash about the safety of the people who they take money from,'' Dr Stone said. ``They put them on unseaworthy vessels. They push off _ increasingly towards our summer _ in rougher and rougher seas. A potential humanitarian disaster is looming if we don't stop these people smugglers in their tracks. It's a security issue for Australia, obviously, but remember, more than 300 people were killed when SIEV-X went down.'' Australian and Indonesian authorities know full well that people-smuggling syndicates have been monitoring the changes to our immigration policy. Now there is evidence that Australian authorities have been aware that corrupt officials in the Indonesian embassy in Kabul have been selling visas to an ever-increasing number of people since Australia relaxed it immigration laws. ``These visas deliver people to Indonesia where they can then contract with smugglers who on-sell them passage on a boat to Australia. This is a very dangerous and insidious trade with unseaworthy vessels,'' Dr Stone said. Under the Howard Government's laws, those people who arrived in Australia without any documents were denied access to the same privileges as refugees who arrived in an orderly fashion through the refugee settlement scheme. They were held until they were processed, till their identities were proven, their health checked, their claims of persecution tested, and then they were given temporary protection visas. Under the Rudd regime, they will be not be held for processing, whether they are genuine refugees or not, they will be released into the community. They will be given the same benefits as if they had arrived under the orderly resettlement scheme. The Howard policy was intended to be a statement to those intending to risk their lives in the people smugglers' leaky boats. It was a declaration that their arrival in Australia would not guarantee residency. The Rudd policy has stripped away that degree of determined deterrence, and the people smugglers know it. The Rudd policy says to asylum seekers, whether you come the right way, or the wrong way, Australian benefits will flow to you. Under international law, nations are not obligated to provide benefits or permanent homes to refugees, they are obliged to provide refuge, safe haven, until the fear of persecution in the refugee's own country has abated. When the situation changes in their homeland, the host nation is permitted to ask those to whom it gave sanctuary to return to their country of origin. The Rudd Government owes its election to a large degree to the manic campaign run against the Howard Government on immigration issues. Through a disgracefully grotesque campaign, the Howard Government was wilfully wrongfully blamed for the deaths of those lost at sea when SIEV-X foundered. Now that the Rudd Government has softened its approach the responsibility for the deaths of those who will, tragically, be lured to attempt the hazardous passage to this country, is entirely upon its head.