Fed: Australia a magnet for people smugglers: opposition

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2009
Fed: Australia a magnet for people smugglers: opposition

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - The federal opposition says the arrival of another boatload of
asylum seekers shows that Australia has become a favoured destination for people smugglers.

A boat carrying 11 suspected asylum seekers was intercepted near the Ashmore Islands
off northern Australia late on Monday by Border Protection Command.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the continuing arrival of boat
people is putting the assessment system under too much pressure.

"The government's indifference and weakness, both in their border protection policies
and the decisions they've taken, have ensured that Australia has become a magnet for people
smugglers," Mr Morrison told ABC radio on Tuesday.

"So we're now left with a situation where we have Christmas Island full, boats arriving
pretty much at will and this must be putting extraordinary pressure on the processing
systems that need to be undertaken under such overcrowded conditions."

The latest suspected asylum seeker arrivals will be taken to nearby Christmas Island
for questioning and to undergo security, identity and health checks.

The interception comes only days after the federal government rejected claims overcrowding
in detention facilities on Christmas Island had forced it to move 30 Afghan asylum seekers
to Melbourne for processing.

It is the 59th asylum seeker boat to have been intercepted in Australian waters so far this year.

AAP wjf/cdh

KEYWORD: BOAT MORRISON

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