THE return of 46 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers to their homeland, many with
Australian-funded "reintegration" payments of up to $3000 in their
pockets, is a sign that offshore detention is working as a deterrent for those
who believe that life at home is not impossible, after all. The fact that the
men opted to return rather than languish on Nauru raises questions about
whether they were genuine or economic refugees to start with.
It's an important point because more than 3500 Sri Lankans have arrived
in Australia by boat this year, exceeding the number of Afghans. If offshore
processing and detention does not stem the tide, the Gillard government would
have reasonable grounds to negotiate with Sri Lanka over the repatriation of
its citizens intercepted at sea, provided Australian authorities were satisfied
that those returned would not be persecuted.
Unfortunately, apart from the Sri Lankans, the resumption of offshore
processing has had no impact, with a record 2319 boatpeople turning up in
September, including more than 1100 since the first planeload of asylum-seekers
was transferred to Nauru on September 14.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Australia, Nasir Andisha, believes the
revival of offshore processing on Nauru and Manus Island will not deter the
thousands of asylum-seekers already in Indonesia from journeying to Australia.
But offshore processing must be given its best chance of working and, as
opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says, fewer than 5 per cent of
asylum-seekers to arrive after Labor's cut-off date have been sent to Nauru so
far.
The government must step up offshore processing because it is vital that
new arrivals bypass the Australian mainland and the opportunity to appeal an
unsuccessful bid for refugee status through the legal system. While progress in
readying facilities on Nauru has been slow, 134 people from one vessel
intercepted on Saturday were transferred to Darwin for initial checks. If
Christmas Island was not full, the government must explain why they were sent
to Darwin.
The government will also look half-hearted unless it implements the full
ranch of options proposed by the Houston review and remains ever-vigilant to
stay one step ahead of the people-smugglers.
