Boat arrivals ‘wanted to work in Australia’

Illegal maritime arrivals being processed on Nauru have been identified as economic migrants and unlikely to be granted refugee status, as OSB ramps-up co-operation with Indonesia over people-smuggling.

Indonesia's Defence Minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, right, with Australia's Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell in Jakarta on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

A number of illegal maritime arrivals being processed on Nauru have been identified as economic migrants and are unlikely to be granted refugee status, as Operation Sovereign Borders ramps up intelligence sharing with Indonesia to cut off any new people-­smuggling ventures.

The Australian understands some of the 62 asylum seekers apprehended and sent to the Nauru regional processing centre since September have left of their own accord.

The mainly Pakistani and Bangladeshi men are understood to have been promised by Indonesian-linked people smugglers they could live a free life in Australia following the release of 149 dangerous non-citizens in the wake of the High Court decision.

Some of the men found on the WA Dampier Peninsula last Friday told locals they wanted to travel to Sydney to find work and send money back to their families.

After arriving in Nauru and facing the reality of being stranded on the remote Pacific island for months or years, it is understood some of the subcontinent men have flown home.

The Australian on Wednesday revealed asylum seekers being processed in offshore centres can access government-funded resettlement humanitarian packages if they return home or move to a third country.

Under pressure to stop the breaches of Australia’s maritime borders, Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell is overseeing an increase in OSB surveillance off Western Australia.

General Campbell, who stood-up OSB in 2013 as its inaugural commander, made a flying visit to Jakarta on Tuesday to meet with Indonesian Defence Minister and presumptive next president Prabowo Subianto and his newly appointed counterpart Agus Subiyanto.

Indonesian authorities are working with OSB officials to gather intelligence on people smugglers who are believed to be using faster fishing vessels and captains familiar with avoiding maritime and aerial patrols.

Since November, people smuggling boats have dropped off two groups of 12 and 39 people in remote northern WA before escaping Australian territorial waters without being detected.

Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said not all of the illegal maritime arrivals sent to Nauru had applied for asylum and reiterated that “Indonesia plays an important role” in thwarting people smugglers.

“We don’t talk about the operational matters because it’s important that we not give a heads-up to what is an industry that trades in human beings. We need to make sure that we send a strong message that people who come in an unauthorised fashion won’t be settled in Australia,” he said.

Speaking on 2GB, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson raised concerns that some of the new arrivals on Nauru could travel to Australia as a result of temporary medical issues and remain in the country.

Prominent human rights barrister Greg Barns SC, an adviser to jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, blamed the boat arrivals on Indonesia tightening rules for people in transit from other countries, meaning it is harder to remain in the country.

Mr Barns said he wasn’t surprised to see the majority of men sent to Nauru coming from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“We understand the Indonesian system for dealing with these people who are in transit from other countries has been tightened and it has become exceptionally difficult for them to remain in Indonesia,” he told The Australian.

“As is generally the case for people who are fleeing difficult circumstances, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, these are countries that are unstable and … repressive so it’s not unusual that people come from that part of the world.”

Indonesian officials and experts in regional refugee movement said the arrival of 62 people on three boats, two which made landfall in WA, were unlikely to be connected with the swath of ­Rohingya refugee arrivals in Aceh towards the end of last year.

Several officials said the latest boat arrivals were likely first movers testing the High Court ruling last year against the indefinite detention of illegal migrants.

Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi, Burmese and Nepalese migrant workers have also become stranded in Malaysia in recent months after falling victim to a job brokerage scam in which they pay thousands of dollars to be placed in work only to arrive in Malaysia and find there are no jobs for them.

Migrant worker advocate Andy Hall said thousands were destitute, unable to afford even to feed themselves: “We have been engaging with the UN on this issue but it doesn’t seem that there’s any kind of positive movement by ­Malaysia so far,” he said.

In Indonesia, government officials are still trying to determine where the boats departed from.

One Indonesian with previous connections to the people-smuggling trade said the captain who organised the latest boat arrivals was clearly “a smart person”.

Additional reporting: Paige Taylor