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Australian Customs Patrol - Source: Reuters -
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Australia will likely take the vast bulk of Sri Lankan asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking that are deemed to be refugees, Immigration Minister Chris Evans says.
"Those that have been found to be refugees will be offered resettlement under the normal UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) guidelines," Senator Evans told reporters in Perth on Friday.
Up to 20 of the 78 Sri Lankan Tamils have agreed to leave the ship and enter an Indonesian detention centre after accepting an offer of rapid resettlement, marking the first breakthrough in the stand-off involving the group since they were picked up at sea more than three weeks ago and refused to disembark the Australian customs ship to enter the detention facility.
Senator Evans said the government would not comment on when it expected the asylum seekers to disembark in Indonesia but there were suggestions it could be as soon as Friday.
"At this stage, we're not going to run a commentary on when people will get off."
Senator Evans also slammed Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's four-point plan to deal with the matter, including reintroducing temporary protection visas (TPVs) established by the former Howard government.
"To somehow announce that a return to that policy would help is nonsense," Senator Evans said.
"Temporary protection visas don't stop people coming.
"Only three per cent of people who were granted TPVs went home."
