April 8, 2024
Refugees who arrived by boat at a remote air base in Western Australia have been transported to Australia's offshore detention facility in Nauru as concerns grow over a spike in boat people.
One of the men, who became separated from the group of 15 arrivals, was also found by police on Sunday after arriving at the Mungalalu Truscott Airbase.
As previously revealed by The Courier-Mail, the remote base in WA was targeted by a group of asylum-seekers in November who paid $US8000 to be flown to Darwin only to be abandoned by people smugglers at the narrow base, where they were found by Indigenous rangers.
It is believed the latest refugees are Chinese making them only the second boat of Chinese asylum-seekers since 2012.
Anthony Albanese maintained that no changes needed to be made to Operation Sovereign Borders Australia's border protection regime despite the latest contingent being the third group of illegal asylum-seekers to have arrived by boat since November.
"People smugglers will always try to change their methods in order to ply what is the dangerous trade. But there is no change to Operation Sovereign Borders. It's important that that message be sent," the Prime Minister said.
"We'll use all avenues at our disposal to make sure that the borders are protected and make sure we respond in accordance with the principles of Operation Sovereign Borders. And that's what we have, again, done on this occasion." Asked if this incident signalled a weak spot in Australia's border protection, Mr Albanese said Australia had a "very large coastline".
Insiders familiar with the base reported an increase in Indonesian fishermen illegally coming into the area over the past 18 months. Sources reported the fishermen were cutting hideouts in the mangroves around the isolated area at the end of last year.
Border Force sources are also reportedly concerned about people smugglers now using high-powered boats that can drop people off at the Australian coast and return to international waters a lot faster than the traditionally used wooden boats.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Australia's deteriorating levels of border surveillance was to blame for the "failure".
"It's the 13th boat since the election to attempt an illegal people-smuggling venture and it's no surprise why," he said.
"Aerial surveillance hours under this government's watch have dropped 20 per cent, maritime patrol days have dropped 12 per cent and the result of that is people getting through by getting onshore and our border protection regime is being undermined."
