More Boats Mean More Asylum Seekers in Detention in Australia

In the first two months of 2012, 1165 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia by boat. And all of them have been moved to detention centres.

On 16th February two boats carrying more than 130 asylum seekers were stopped off the coast of Christmas Island. Two days later, Australian authorities intercepted another asylum seeker boat with more than 79 asylum seekers on board. And on 21^st February, two more boats were found in Australian waters. One of the boats was carrying 98 people while the other had 96 passengers. The asylum seekers have been taken to the detention centre on Christmas Island, where they will receive initial security, health and identity checks and their reasons for travel will be established.

Both of the major political parties in Australia want to start offshore processing for asylum seekers who arrive by boat again. But they are still fighting over which country asylum seekers should be sent to. The current Government wants to send asylum seekers to Malaysia. The Liberal Party (in opposition) wants to send asylum seekers to Nauru.

Both sets of politicians are blaming each other for the increase in the numbers of people arriving by boat. The Government’s Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen, said the latest boat arrivals were because the Liberal Party was refusing to negotiate. “Enough is enough. Australians expect Mr. Abbott to work with the Government to stop people risking their lives at sea,” Mr. Bowen said. The Liberal Party’s immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, said the  “Labor [party] has lost control of our borders.”

Without offshore processing, the newest asylum seekers to arrive in Australia are being sent to detention centres. A new report by Amnesty International, however, says that conditions in those detention centres are not good for asylum seekers. In fact, they have said the Australian Government should close the remote detention centres like Curtin immediately.

Amnesty spoke with one asylum seeker who has been on detention for more than two years, waiting for the refugee application to be processed. The asylum seeker told Amnesty, “the only way to pass the time and escape the heat is to rely on medication to sleep the days away.”

Amnesty spokesperson Graham Thom said that there was an “air of hopelessness” among the asylum seekers and that their mental health was “obviously being crushed” by spending up to three years waiting. Amnesty says that asylum seekers should be detained only for a maximum of 30 days once they reach Australia.

There are currently 3031 people in immigration detention centres around Australia. Almost a third have been in detention for more than a year.