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Viewing cable 09CANBERRA394, ASYLUM SEEKER DEATHS HIGHLIGHT BORDER SECURITY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09CANBERRA394 2009-04-17 09:59 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Canberra
VZCZCXRO2393
PP RUEHDT RUEHPB RUEHPT
DE RUEHBY #0394/01 1070959
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170959Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1386
INFO RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI PRIORITY 0195
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 5415
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0270
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY PRIORITY 1990
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 5740
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 6261
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 4524
RUEHJA/AMCONSUL SURABAYA PRIORITY 0252
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 4483
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2005
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0782
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CANBERRA 000394 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL AF AS
SUBJECT: ASYLUM SEEKER DEATHS HIGHLIGHT BORDER SECURITY 
DEBATE 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary:  The deaths of three Afghans in a recent 
boat explosion off Australia's northwest coast highlight a 
larger debate over the effects of Prime Minister Rudd's 
policies on treatment of asylum seekers.  Border protection 
is becoming a higher profile political issue due to a rise in 
the number of boat people seeking asylum in recent months. 
While overall numbers are relatively small -- less than 200 
in each of the last two years -- the numbers have risen 
steadily, spiking to 276 asylum seekers so far in the first 
three and one-half months of 2009.  The government attributes 
the increase to deteriorating conditions in strife-torn 
countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while 
the Opposition blames it on the Rudd government's relaxation 
of immigration detention policies in 2008.  Four boatloads of 
asylum seekers have been intercepted in the last two weeks, 
the latest occurring on April 15 when, in an ironic twist, 
government ministers were in Indonesia for a regional 
conference on combating people smuggling. Moreover, the issue 
is highly emotive; border protection was widely credited as a 
major factor in the conservative Coalition's 2001 election 
victory.  Opposition Liberal moderates may resist a returning 
to the hard-line approach adopted by the previous Coalition 
government led by John Howard. At the same time, the ALP left 
will pressure Rudd not to reverse course if he shows any sign 
of toughening its asylum rules.  END SUMMARY. 
 
EXPLOSION DESTROYS BOAT WITH ASYLUM SEEKERS OFF NW AUSTRALIA 
COAST 
 
2. (SBU) The April 16 explosion aboard a boat carrying 47 
Afghani male asylum seekers near Ashmore Reef, off the 
morthwest coast of Western Australia (WA), killed three 
people and injured about 30 others, some seriously. Two 
people are still missing. In a dramatic rescue mission, 
victims were evacuated to nearby hospitals in Broome and 
Darwin (in the Northern territory), while others were 
airlifted to the WA capital's Royal Perth Hospital's 
specialist burn unit. The hospital's executive director Dr. 
Paul Mark said that extra security was in place at the 
hospital, including immigration officials and various 
government agency staff. All patients have been quarantined 
in separate rooms and the hospital remains on code brown 
alert--meaning that the hospital is coping with a rare 
external disaster. In an extremely complex medical rescue, 
those injured in the explosion were transported by naval 
vessels to the Puffin oil rig, then by helicopter to the 
Truscott Air Base in the Northwest before being evacuated to 
hospitals by Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), military 
aircraft, including C-17s, and charter planes. Some with 
minor injuries are being taken by sea to Darwin. RFDS chief 
executive Tim Shackelton said that the significantly 
difficult, logistical operation had gone remarkably well. 
 
WA PREMIER CLAIMS SABOTAGE 
 
3. (SBU) Shortly after early reports of the incident, WA 
Premier Colin Barnett claimed that the asylum seekers had 
deliberately doused their boat with gasoline, which had 
Qeither exploded accidentally, or had been deliberately 
ignited. The claim could not be confirmed and Australia's 
Border Protection Commander, Rear Admiral Allan de Toit, 
declined to comment on the Premier's assertion, saying that 
it was too early to determine the cause of the explosion, 
adding that Australian military personnel, who had 
intercepted the boat a day earlier, were on board at the time 
of the explosion. WA police believed that the blast may have 
originated in the engine room. Federal Home Affairs Minister 
Bob Debus questioned the source of Premier Barnett's 
information, commenting that it was too early to say whether 
the explosion was accidental or deliberate. WA Labor MLA Paul 
Papalia, a former patrol boat commander, called for a more 
considered approach by all participants in the public debate, 
terming the public speculation on the cause of the fire 
"inappropriate and incredibly unhelpful at a time when an 
incident is underway which has resulted in death and injury 
to a number of people." 
 
THE FACTS 
 
 
CANBERRA 00000394  002 OF 003 
 
 
4. (U) There were 148 unauthorized arrivals intercepted in 
Australian waters in calendar year 2007; 179 in 2008; and 276 
so far in 2009. Four boatloads of asylum seekers have been 
intercepted during the last fortnight. In the run-up to the 
November 2007 federal election, Kevin Rudd's Australian Labor 
Party (ALP) campaigned on a promise to adopt a more humane 
approach to asylum seekers.  In December, 2007, after his 
election victory, the Rudd government announced the end of 
the previous administration's "Pacific Solution" (off-shore 
processing of asylum seekers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea). 
In May 2008, the government announced it was scrapping 
Temporary Protection Visas, a measure introduced in 1999 by 
the Howard government to deter people smugglers (under this 
policy, unauthorized arrivals found to be refugees could be 
removed from Australia if conditions in their home countries 
improved). In July 2008, the government changed the 
fundamental premise underlying "mandatory detention" (while 
their claims are processed, asylum seekers will only be 
detained as a last resort). In November 2008, the Immigration 
Minister said: "With the worst excesses of Howard era refugee 
policy behind us, Australia has been able to return as a 
credible international actor in the field of refugee 
protection." The Howard government,s tough stance on border 
protection was widely credited for its 2001 election victory. 
 
THE BLAME GAME 
 
5. (U) The Opposition has charged that the government's 
changes sent a "green light" to people smugglers; accuses the 
government of not providing adequate resources for border 
security, quarantine services and immigration processing; and 
has called for greater co-operation with Indonesia in 
combating people smuggling. Opposition immigration 
spokesperson Sharman Stone blamed Rudd's government for the 
April 16 tragedy, saying that "you can't slash funds, you 
can't take your eye off the ball, you can't announce a softer 
policy and then expect people not to lose their lives through 
people smuggling."  The Government has attributed the recent 
surge to "seasonal conditions"; and "push factors" such as 
deteriorating conditions in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri 
Lanka. The Government has also noted that the number of 
asylum seekers has increased around the world. Immigration 
Minister Chris Evans, in Indonesia ironically for a regional 
conference on people smuggling, said Indonesia lacked 
sufficient capacity to prosecute people smugglers. 
 
6.   (SBU)  Officials at DFAT have told the Embassy that 
small, independent smugglers are replacing the larger 
operators in part because of Indonesia's success -- bolstered 
by help and training from the Australian Federal Police  and 
Australian customs -- in stopping the major people smugglers, 
who exerted the most corrupting influence on the military, 
politicians and police.  Asylum seekers have the money to 
pay/bribe the small providers, and the boats are leaving from 
many more coves and inlets than before, greatly complicating 
the coast guard,s task. 
 
7.  (SBU)  On the more general issue of soft immigration 
Q7.  (SBU)  On the more general issue of soft immigration 
policies, Gregory Copely of the Perth-based think-tank Future 
Directions blamed the recent rise in illegal boats on PM 
Rudd's softened immigration policy, opining that "the 
Government is not prepared adequately to defend the 
sovereignty of Australia and the laws of Australia."  Copley 
asserted the Prime Minister would be better served by 
returning to the policies of the Howard era of not tolerating 
illegal arrivals, which had succeeded in keeping incursions 
to a minimum. A leading ALP strategist told Consulate Perth 
that he thought the increased incidence of asylum seekers 
resulted from a combination of Australia's softer immigration 
policy and a global increase in refugee movements, and that 
the government was right to withhold comment on the cause of 
the Ashmore Reef incident until hard evidence was obtained on 
the cause of the explosion. Another Labor politician told CG 
Perth that he was surprised that Barnett came out so early to 
accuse the Afghanis of sabotaging their own vessel, adding 
that one had to be careful with such accusations in light of 
the "Children Overboard" incident of several years ago. 
 
NOT A THREAT TO THE POLITICAL BALANCE 
 
CANBERRA 00000394  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
8. (SBU) COMMENT: The Coalition, lagging far behind in the 
polls and struggling to connect with Rudd's "working 
families", is seeking to shift political debate to one of the 
Coalition's traditional strengths - national security. 
However, political dynamics have shifted on border protection 
since the 2001 election. At that election, not long after 
September 11, Prime Minister Howard declared: "We will decide 
who comes to this country and the circumstance in which they 
come." However, the economy is now foremost in the minds of 
"working families", and the Howard government's detention 
policy was scandalized by wrongful detentions and disturbing 
cases of long-term detention. It is difficult to envisage 
Rudd significantly hardening immigration policy. This would 
alienate the Left of his party, and possibly undermine 
Australia's bid for a UN Security Council seat. And there is 
no indication so far that this issue is affecting his 
dominant standing in the polls. Rather, it is likely Rudd 
will continue to pressure Indonesia, in particular, to do 
more. This issue may backfire on the Coalition, if it becomes 
too vocal, given that some moderate Liberals were 
uncomfortable with the Howard government,s approach. END 
COMMENT. 
 
9.  (U)  This report was prepared in coordination with 
Consulate General Perth. 
 
CLUNE