Fed: Govt lost control of boat people - oppn

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2001
Fed: Govt lost control of boat people - oppn

SYDNEY, Aug 24 AAP - The federal government had lost control over people smuggling
and should set up a coast guard to stem the number of vessels arriving, the opposition
said today.

The largest single shipload of illegal immigrants, 364, landed this week at Christmas
Island, with the asylum seekers scheduled to be moved into detention centres on the mainland
today.

Nearly 1,000 boat people have arrived in Australia in the past week, prompting federal
government plans to build three new detention centres around the nation.

But opposition immigration spokesman Con Sciacca said the government had lost control
of the situation.

He said in the past decade, 13,000 unauthorised boat people arrived in Australia, 10,500
of them since the government came to power in 1996.

"Now I don't say it has anything to do with the government. The fact is that whatever
the government is doing ... it's not working so we need to have a fresh approach," Mr
Sciacca told Channel Nine.

"So all Labor is saying is, look you've lost control of the situation. Obviously the
people smugglers think we're a soft touch and we need to send a strong signal, and a coast
guard is one way of doing it."

Mr Sciacca said Labor would set up the coast guard using existing resources such as
fisheries management, customs and air and sea search rescue vessels.

"The very fact that the people smugglers know that we do have a maritime police force
that's guarding our shores should form a disincentive, certainly better than passing a
few laws here," Mr Sciacca said.

Under water protection legislation, officers could board vessels and warn the crew
that they face 20 years jail in Australia for people smuggling, Mr Sciacca said.

"They then have the option as to whether they want to continue.

"I can't see that anybody would want to be certain of going to jail for 20 years (and)
having the boat confiscated," he said.

AAP sal/nf/ldj

KEYWORD: DETENTION SCIACCA

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