Get refugees in Indonesia here before they get on boats, grassroots ALP group says

Labor for Refugees, a group of ALP members aiming to ‘enhance’ the party’s refugee policy, say a Labor government needs to point them to the correct pathways to enter Australia.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Labor for Refugees say an incoming Labor government needs to get to the thousands of refugees before they board the boats and point them to the correct pathways to enter Australia.

The Coalition has sought to revive a debate on borders and claimed a Labor government would be soft on the issue and see the restarting of illegal boats coming to Australia.

Labor has sought to clarify its position, with opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally stressing the party fully supported Operation Sovereign Borders.

“If people attempt to come to Australia by boat, they will not make it. Labor completely supports Operation Sovereign Borders, offshore processing, regional resettlement and boat turnbacks where it is safe to do so,” she told ABC on Tuesday.

“No one who has attempted to come by boat since introduction of Operation Sovereign Borders will be allowed to settle in Australia, period.”

But the Labor for Refugees lobby group said if Labor was elected “you can bet” the boats would start again.

The group suggested in response to this, Labor needed to “get to them (refugees) first”.

“There are over 15,000 people in Indonesia waiting to get to Australia,” a post on the group’s official Facebook page said.

“The important thing is that an incoming Labor Govt needs to get to these people first before anyone else and stop them needing to get on boats.

You can bet if Labor is elected the boats will start again. There are over 15,000 people in Indonesia waiting to get to...

Posted by Labor for Refugees on Monday, April 18, 2022

The group said Labor needed to work with refugee agencies to get people ready to come to Australia, give them a fixed timeline on when they would arrive and “diminish” the incentive to get on boats.