Australia, March 28: Australia is even closer to processing asylum seekers on the mainland, the Federal Government has confirmed, tipping the surge in boat people to continue over the coming months.
There are also concerns of a potentially explosive security situation on Christmas Island concerning more than 100 male detainees who have already been told their claims for asylum have been rejected.
The developments come after a second mass transfer in a week of asylum seekers to the Australian mainland.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans today rejected claims the transfer of 89 people yesterday night to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney was because of overcrowding on Christmas Island.
“They’ve been found not to be refugees, they’ve had their identity (and) health checks etc, and they’re on a removal pathway,” Senator Evans said in Perth.
Their removal follows the transfer of 51 detainees to various mainland locations last week.
But opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said detainees that have had their claims rejected should be immediately deported.
“Had this been the coalition government, these individuals would be on their way home, not on their way to the mainland of Australia to pursue further appeals,” Mr Morrison said.
“We have people arriving on the mainland whose claims have been rejected.
“The coalition has made it clear, on a number of occasions, that we would never abandon universal offshore processing, which this government has now done.”
However, the Australian Greens said the arrival of asylum seekers on the mainland was neither a security crisis nor a policy catastrophe.
“Bringing them to Australia makes it easier to process their claims quickly, fairly and humanely – a goal that everyone should support,” Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said.
The government has maintained for months that Darwin is an option for processing asylum seeker claims, but it has now conceded it could be a real possibility.
“We do know that we’ll keep having arrivals in the coming months,” Senator Evans said.
“We are hopeful of the numbers reducing.
“(But) if we are short of capacity on Christmas Island and we are under pressure, those people in the last stages of processing – those who have had most of the checks done and are expected to be on a positive pathway – they will then go to Darwin Centre for the last few weeks of their processing.”
With an increasing number of asylum seekers having their claims rejected, there are also concerns about security on Christmas Island.
Senator Evans conceded it was a problem the government would have to manage.
“We’re having to manage a new problem, which is large numbers of people who are found not to be refugees who are going to have to be returned to their country of origin,” he said.
“Having 100 men in a facility who have been told they are not going to be getting a visa to Australia provides a management problem, particularly among a larger population of men who’s processes are still occurring.”
There are 1911 people in detention on Christmas Island, which has a capacity of 2040, with more than 100 on the way following the interception of two more boats late last week.
The latest boat, carrying seven asylum seekers and one crew member, was intercepted by HMAS Glenelg in the early hours of yesterday morning.
It was the 30th illegal entry vessel to be intercepted in Australian waters this year.
—Agencies