Labor boat turnback shameful: Greens

The Albanese government has warned people-smugglers after sending back a boat load of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, in a move condemned by the Greens.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles is dropped off outside his Corio electorate office in Geelong on Tuesday.

The Albanese government has warned people-smugglers not to attempt fresh voyages to Australia after sending back a boat load of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, in a move condemned by the Greens as “a shameful continuation of Scott Morrison’s brutal policy”.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles ordered the Australian Border Force to proceed with the asylum-seeker “take-back procedure”, initiated by former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, after the vessel was intercepted on election day.

Defying Coalition claims that Labor was unable to secure the nation’s borders, Mr Marles said the government had not hesitated in making the decision.

He said those aboard were screened and found not to be owed protection by Australia.

“They have been returned to Sri Lanka, and that has happened in a very ordinary and routine way,” Mr Marles told Sky News. “And people-smugglers out there should know that very clearly; there will be no change under this government, and Australia retains its strong border stance.”

It’s understood the asylum-seekers were taken aboard an ABF vessel and returned to Sri Lanka by air, but government officials refused to comment on the details of their repatriation.

The Greens, which will be a balance-of-power force in the Senate, said the move was “unnecessary, ineffective, inhumane and contrary to international law”. “Australians voted for change and deserve so much better than a shameful continuation of Scott Morrison‘s brutal policy,” the party’s immigration spokesman, Nick McKim, said.

The decision to send the asylum-seekers home came after the Liberal Party controversially sent text messages to voters in marginal seats after the boat was intercepted on Saturday as the nation went to the polls.

The texts read: “BREAKING – Aust Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Aus. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today.”

The former government had previously sought to restrict reporting of “on water matters”.

Mr Marles said the Coalition’s decision to make the boat arrival public was “a disgrace”, accusing it of “politicising national security” for its own interests.

“The texts sent out by the Liberal Party in that moment made our country less safe, made our borders less secure,” Mr Marles said. “These are matters which should not have ended up in the public domain.”

Mr Marles said he had asked Department of Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo to report back on why the information was made public. He said the move to return the asylum-seekers was “always going to be”, after Labor adopted the policy in 2015.

Operation Sovereign Borders Commander Rear Admiral Justin Jones said the taskforce had “safely returned passengers” from the vessel to Sri Lanka on Mr Marles’ orders, after it was intercepted off Christmas Island on Saturday.

“The direction to me, by the Acting Prime Minister, was clear – this government remains committed to Operation Sovereign Borders, and to the protection of lives at sea,” he said.

“I, as Commander, will continue to do what is necessary to deter people-smugglers.

“We will intercept any vessel seeking to reach Australia illegally, and safely return those on board to their point of departure or country of origin or, if not safe to do so, they will be transferred to regional processing.”

Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeill said the decision violated Australia’s legal obligation against forcibly returning people to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

“Implementing a blanket ‘turn back the boats’ policy is not legal or humane,” Ms McNeill said.

“It is also inconsistent with Australia’s obligations under domestic and international law to protect the right to life and rescue persons in distress at sea.”

But Labor’s yet-to-be declared member for the Melbourne seat of Higgins – who was born in the UK to Sri Lankan Tamil parents – said she strongly supports the party’s policy on boat turnbacks.

Infectious diseases expert Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah said Labor‘s policy was “very clear”.

“Boat turn-backs remain, and this is done for two reasons: one to act as a deterrent against people-smugglers, and the second is that there is publicly available data from Monash University which shows when people travel by boat they die,” she said.

“Of course I have sympathy (for boat people), but our policy remains for those reasons.

“This is why we need to have a regional approach to the management of people in crisis and this is something Labor will do under the leadership of (Foreign Minister) Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese, and something which was neglected by Scott Morrison.”

Mr Morrison confirmed on election day that Australian authorities had intercepted an asylum-seeker boat, declaring: “I’ve been here to stop this boat but in order for me to be there to stop those that may come from here, you need to vote Liberal and Nationals today.”

In addition to the asylum-seeker vessel intercepted near Christmas Island, a second boat was stopped by the Sri Lankan navy from making the voyage.

Ms Andrews told the media on Saturday: “Those ventures indicate very clearly what risk a Labor government poses … to our borders. This is not scaremongering, this is the reality.”

Mr Marles said the Coalition had been “far more interested in its own political interest than the national interest”: “It sought to create division when there was none – everyone knew that there was bipartisanship in relation to maintaining strong borders.”

Tamils in Sri Lanka continue to flee the country – more than a decade after the civil war – claiming ongoing persecution by the nation’s majority Sinhalese.

The decision to return the asylum-seekers comes despite Labor’s pledge to send the so-called “Biloela family” of Tamil asylum-seekers back to their central Queensland home after years of immigration detention.