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Australian police escort the asylum seekers back to shore - Source: APTN -
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Australia came under pressure to toughen its asylum policy after
three asylum seekers were killed and more than 30 seriously injured
in an explosion on an Indonesian boat heading for the Australian
coast.
Conservative opposition politicians blamed Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd's softening of Australia's asylum policy for a surge in
boatpeople, with one going further and linking the deaths on
Thursday to the government's policy.
"You can't announce a softer policy and then expect people not to
lose their lives through people-smuggling efforts, which is, of
course, all about cash," opposition immigration spokesman Sharman
Stone told Sky News.
The latest boat, carrying 49 people believed to be from
Afghanistan, was detected by the Australian navy at Ashmore Reef,
between Australia and Indonesia, and was drifting under the watch
of the military when the explosion occurred.
The leader of Western Australia State said the boat may have been
deliberately doused in petrol before the explosion.
But the government stood firm, defending its asylum policy.
Rudd said people smugglers were engaged in the world's most evil
trade and that was why his government had a hard-line, tough,
targeted approach to maintaining border protection.
"We've dedicated more resources to combat people smuggling than any
other government in Australian history," he said.
Rudd said the fight against people smuggling would also require the
cooperation of countries like Indonesia and Malaysia from where
boatpeople launch their bids for Australia.
The Labor government, elected in 2007, dumped the previous
conservative government's policy of automatically detaining
boatpeople in offshore centres in the Indian and Pacific
Oceans.
The policy, which was criticised by the United Nations and human
rights groups, was called the Pacific Solution as it aimed to stop
boatpeople landing on Australian soil and thereby stopping them
automatically claiming refugee status.
A poll by Australia's Sky TV News on Friday found 83% of
Australia's believe the country's border protection policy should
now be hardened in the wake of the boatpeople deaths.
Several online readers of Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper
also called for tougher action to stop asylum seekers.
"Rudd has blood on his hands. The softening of our stance on
refugees has resulted in a revolving door in Australia and anyone
is welcome," said Bill from the Sydney suburb of Drummoyne.
Backlash
If the Labor government, due to go to the polls by the end of 2010,
toughens its asylum policy it could expect a backlash from its
traditional voter base, many of whom are migrants, and especially
after its criticism of the earlier hard-line stance.
"A disaster has catapulted border protection into a risky issue for
the government," wrote The Age newspaper's Michelle Gratton,
referring to the 2001 election, which an opposition Labor lost due
to its softer border protection policy.
"The government will be under pressure to examine whether its
policy needs change. It should resist being spooked."
Thirteen boats carrying around 379 asylum seekers, mostly from
Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka, have reached Australian waters
since the government softened the asylum policy last July.
People-smuggling to Australia peaked in 2001 when more than 1,200
people arrived, mostly from the Middle East and organised by
professional people-smuggling rings.
A dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Australia sank in
international waters in October 2001, killing 353 people.
Immigration advocates said there had been a 12% increase worldwide
in asylum-seeker numbers during 2008, and Australia was seeing only
a fraction of that, with numbers last year up from 3,970 in 2007 to
4,750.
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