2013 illegal boat arrivals 'eclipse' 2012 numbers

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Created on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 15:58

Written by Editorial staff

With a recent illegal boat arrival of 150 people, 1,000 more people have arrived since the beginning of the year - when compared with the same period in 2012.

Shadow minister for immigration and citizenship Scott Morrison explained that this is a year of record failures - describing the situation as chaos taken "to a whole new level" - especially since all of these people are arriving without an immigration visa or proper documentation.

"Meanwhile, people smugglers continue to get everything they ever wanted from this government - record profits and a guaranteed business model of permanent residency for their clients who they send on the perilous journey to Australia," he said.

"The human toll of Labor's border failure is a staggering 40,000 offshore humanitarian applicants who were rejected Australian visas last year or 85 per cent of everyone who applied. This is compared to just nine per cent of applicants who arrived by boat who missed out."

The Coalition frontbencher made the point that the poll favourite for the Labor leadership, Kevin Rudd, started the problem when he removed the successful policies of the Howard government. And since Gillard took over, the boats have not been able to be stopped, he added.

Shadow minister for justice, customs and border protection Michael Keenan explained that the numbers tell a very direct story. With March not yet over, 11 more boats with seven times more people, have arrived when compared with the whole of March 2012.

Mr Keenan put it simply that the failure to protect Australia's borders is becoming more and more apparent.

While the government is proclaiming to be tough on people smuggling, Mr Keenan added, the proclamation is in stark contrast to the fact that temporary protection visas have not been reinstated, and full access to the courts for boat arrivals has not been granted.

The border protection minister described the current situation as "remarkable", with the government refusing to act on the stone-cold facts which show what damage is being done to the country via these disastrous policies.

Confirming the issue, The Australian has produced data which found that for the first two and a half months of this year, arrivals are up 55 per cent when compared with the same period in 2012.