Coalition discusses asylum seeker issue with relevant nations

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Created on Tuesday, 16 October 2012 16:29

Written by Editorial staff

Opposition frontbenchers will travel to Sri Lanka to discuss the Coalition's plan to turn boats around in the event the party wins next year's election.

Shadow immigration and citizenship minister Scott Morrison and deputy leader of the party Julie Bishop will take the unusual step to discuss immigration and foreign policy while they are not currently in positions of power.

The introduction of offshore processing in August has failed to make a dent in the number of boats entering Australian waters, with 500 boat people arriving without any immigration visa or proper documentation at the weekend. A spokesperson for Scott Morrison said that these arrivals show that the government is not taking the issue of arrivals seriously, and that as a result, the opposition must enter the international arena and begin devising a solution to fix the problem in the event his party comes to power.

The opposition will also be talking with the Sri Lankan government about the constant arrivals of economic refugees in Australia.

It comes as the opposition duo, along with the coalition leader Tony Abbott are in Indonesia, meeting with the country's president, his minister for political justice and security affairs and the state secretary. They discussed the Coalition's strategy to reduce boat arrivals through temporary protection visas and offshore processing.    

Scott Morrison said that this meeting was both productive and necessary in order to plan for the future with border protection.

"The opportunity to discuss a broad range of matters at such a senior level at both of these meetings is almost unprecedented for and opposition and has been invaluable, serving to add further to the understanding and trust that already exists.

"This will be critical to working in partnership with our friends in Indonesia to address people smuggling if the Coalition is elected," he said.

The issue of the Bali Process-where countries involved in boat arrivals, including countries of origin, destination and transit, meet to further the agenda of a framework in which people smugglers aren't able to continue their trade-was also discussed.

Morrison said that it's crucial that the Pacific region in which so much people smuggling and boat arrivals take, a like-minded and focused agenda on tackling the issue and working together to stop the trade, which is costing Australian's billions and sometimes costing asylum seekers their lives.