Sovereign Borders: Quick turnaround for boatpeople near Christmas Island

Operation Sovereign Borders was preparing newly arrived asylum-seekers on Monday for a swift ­return to their country of ori­gin from the waters off Christmas ­Island.

Operation Sovereign Borders commander rear ­admiral Justin Jones told Senate estimates in February that there had been ‘a sharp increase in operational tempo’ since last May. Picture: Jamila Toderas

Operation Sovereign Borders was preparing newly arrived asylum-seekers on Monday for a swift ­return to their country of ori­gin from the waters off Christmas ­Island.

A group of fewer than 40 ­boatpeople, believed to be Sri Lankan, were intercepted last week in the Indian Ocean near Christmas ­Island. Residents of the tiny Australian territory became aware of the intercept on Wednesday when they saw smoke billowing on the horizon, a sign that Operation Sovereign Borders had intercepted a boat, taken passengers on board and burned their boat.

The Australian has been told that in the past week, interpreters have travelled to the island to help with screening tests. The asylum- seekers were due to be flown home under guard on Tuesday.

They had each been deemed not refugees in abbreviated or ­accelerated interviews in which asylum-seekers are asked a series of questions – usually while still at sea – to discover if their circumstances trigger Australia’s obligations under the 1951 convention.

The screening test was trialled on passengers of a boat from Sri Lanka that reached Cocos Islands in 2012, and it has since become the favoured method for screening asylum-seekers who arrive in Australian waters. This is because the test allows authorities to ­return asylum-seekers to their country of origin within days. Boatpeople were previously brought ashore to detention centres and their processing took months or years once appeals were considered.

Operation Sovereign Borders is notoriously spare in its public statements and usually only confirms boat intercepts in monthly reports published online.

An exception was on election day, May 21 last year, when the agency released a statement ­saying a boat had just been intercepted and its passengers would be returned to their country of origin. A report into the matter later found the statement was the result of pressure from the Morrison government.

Operation Sovereign Borders commander rear ­admiral Justin Jones told Senate estimates in February that there had been “a sharp increase in operational tempo” since last May. “The ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka has been the biggest driver for maritime people-smuggling ventures targeting Australia during this period, with shortages of food, fuel and medicines generating strong push factors for ­people to leave the country in search of better economic prospects,” Rear Admiral Jones told the Senate committee.

“I recently returned from a visit to Sri Lanka and am pleased that the situation is improving. However, there is a long road ahead to economic recovery.

“People-smugglers have also sought to exploit the change of the Australian government, using misinformation centred on the outcome of the May 2022 federal election to convince potential ­irregular immigrants in regional source and transit countries that now is the time to travel to Australia by boat.”

Rear Admiral Jones said that despite the surge in regional ­people-smuggling activity, the ­integrity of Australia’s border had been maintained.

Between last May and March, when the most recent Operation Sovereign Borders monthly report was published, Australian authorities had intercepted eight maritime people-smuggling boats trying to reach Australia.

All 209 people on board these vessels were returned to their country of origin or their country of departure.