Dangerous asylum seekers who apply for medevac to Australia will be locked up
Dangerous boat people who have been red-flagged by Australia’s security agency will be locked up in a high-security facility on Christmas Island if they apply to be medevaced to Australia for treatment, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. SEE THE LIST OF ASYLUM SEEKERS WE WON’T LET IN.
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Dangerous boat people who have been red-flagged by Australia’s security agency will be locked up in a high-security facility on Christmas Island if they apply to be medevaced to Australia for treatment.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce the move on Wednesday in a bid to prevent at least 57 risky refugees and asylum seekers from reaching the mainland under Labor’s changes to medical transfers.
It is understood the high-risk transferees will be housed in a secure section of the facility away from the main centre.
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“Advice from security and intelligence agencies indicate a large number of single male transferees living on Manus Island and Nauru are preparing to use the loopholes in Labor’s Medevac Bill to come to Australia,” Mr Morrison said.
“People with character and behavioural concerns will be held at the North West Point (Christmas Island) facility.”
It is also understood a handful of refugees on track to be resettled in the US have suddenly presented with an illness, which authorities believe was a direct result of the new pathway to Australia.
The Christmas Island move comes as The Daily Telegraph can reveal detention centres on the Australian mainland are packed to near capacity with criminals and visa overstayers awaiting deportation, leaving little room to house the scores of boat people expected to arrive under the new medevac scheme.
Australia’s biggest onshore detention centre at Villawood, in Sydney’s west, is filled to 99 per cent of its capacity.
The PM will visit the Christmas Island detention centre today, which he said had to reopen because Labor’s bill “undermines and ends offshore processing as we know it”.
Australian authorities have already red-flagged dozens of refugees and asylum-seekers who failed character assessments over allegations of violent crimes and links to terrorist groups. But the government believes it is powerless to block the transfer of these individuals under the new scheme because the Immigration Minister can only knock back people who have been jailed for 12 months.
THE PEOPLE WE WON’T LET IN
CASE STUDY 1
LOCATION: Nauru
STATUS: Refugee
CHARACTER ASSESSMENT: Suspected of involvement in methamphetamine and marijuana importation. Was likely involved in intelligence operations during a recent Middle East conflict.
CASE STUDY 2
LOCATION: Nauru
STATUS: Refugee
CHARACTER ASSESSMENT: Social media presence includes objectionable material, including violent and graphic extremist imagery.
CASE STUDY 3
LOCATION: Manus Island
STATUS: Non-Refugee
CHARACTER ASSESSMENT: Charged in Papua New Guinea with assault. Has a history of violence. Allegedly charged with murder.
CASE STUDY 4
LOCATION: Manus Island
STATUS:Non-Refugee
CHARACTER ASSESSMENT: Military service of interest.
CASE STUDY 5
LOCATION: Manus Island
STATUS:Refugee
CHARACTER ASSESSMENT: Identified as the owner of a storage device containing child pornography.
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