BETTER FLY THAN SAIL

 AUSTRALIA’S BORDER FARCE                     

A small group of presumed asylum seekers was reportedly discovered on the Kimberley coast last Friday. If correct then the much-spruiked cooperation between Indonesian naval authorities and the Australian Border Force allegedly protecting our shores has become a farce.  

Ten or more men who stepped onto the sovereign sands of their dream nation are said to have been arrested by a hundred ABF operatives rushed north at the weekend to staunch the invasion.  The prisoners were apparently whisked to Nauru for processing before refugee lawyers could blow in their ears.  

If the unwelcome arrivals are Chinese nationals as believed they'll probably be sent back to their homeland.  Runaways from the Middle Kingdom making it to the Lucky Country are rare. Past risk-takers have come from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Myanmar after spending stateless years in Indonesia, a nation that doesn't settle refugees.

About 12,000 are in this situation mainly hanging around Jakarta and surviving on handouts from the UN High Commission for Refugees.

In Australia there are now over 100,000 asylum seekers according to one report, with “2,000 new arrivals every month.”  These people are coming by air arousing little interest.

This month’s 10 undetected arrivals causing a media meltdown  came by sea - their number 0.05 per cent of those who use planes. The boat people were reported to have been found with no boat in sight  on the seashore near the old Truscott airfield in WA - the site of another landing last year.  It was built in 1944 as a heavy bomber base to raid Japanese positions in the Indonesian archipelago.

The jump-off points, of the alleged asylum seekers are unknown though some of the little marine lay-bys on Roti (sometimes spelt Rote)  Island - around 500 km north of the Kimberley seem likely.

The ABF has been crowing of its intensified aerial searches of the Arafura Sea since arrivals restarted last November, yet has missed three come-and-go ferries across an open ocean.  

This gives the lie to its website boast: 'Australia watches every boat' suggesting it can turn them back.  It can't even see them.

The ABF also claims problems in maintaining its pledge. In a Senate estimates hearing last year, Force Commissioner Michael Outram spoke of pilot shortages, issues with maintenance schedules and having to use Defence facilities in another bid for more money.

The unsubstantiated notion that “the ABF is aware smugglers have recently switched to valuable boats that can travel up to 20 knots” has been floated with favoured media by the ABF to excuse its incompetence.  Even the ABC has nudged the theory and increased the undetected boats to four.

Any speedboat would be expensive, sizeable and a standout at every traditional port around the Indonesian archipelago; most look more like junkyards than safe harbours.  Fast craft would have to be registered so police would know of their presence.  So would the envious local fishers keen to dob-in outsiders.

The unproven theory suggests a costly well-organised operation run by international crime syndicates bypassing, or in league with, Indonesian authorities.  A sophisticated show rather than the ill-planned journeys of the past when boats have broken down, lost their way or run out of food and water.

Formed nine years ago when Tony Abbott was PM by bonding Immigration and Customs under the super-ministry of Home Affairs, the ABF considers itself a smug secret service with a duty of keeping the Australian public blinkered.

The favourite rebuff for  inquiring journos - including your correspondent - is no comment about 'on-water matters' and 'ongoing operations.'  This silly policy meant Australian news outlets reported 10, 12 and 15 intruders jumping off the latest mystery boat. (Ten seems the right figure.)

State police investigating serious crimes are usually far more forthcoming with facts for the press because they rely on public support for information.

The reporter flick-away technique was first used in the Abbott / Morrison era. The policy remains in place under Anthony Albanese allowing the agency and its 6,000 operatives to escape independent media scrutiny.

The reasoning is that publicity will encourage people smugglers to sell passages as though the criminals rely on factual stories rather than hoaxes.  The reality is that the ABF’s failure to spot ferries is a far bigger magnet.

The ABF claims its officials have been working with Indonesian authorities to publish info and running community sessions warnings of the risks facing people smugglers and their cargoes.

Maritime dangers stressed include shipwrecks, drownings, hull leaks and engine breakdowns. Land hazards are prowling crocs, getting lost and perishing through thirst. Penalties for organisers include  time in prisons serving ample food and good health care, conditions far superior to those in Indonesian jails.

In touring the eastern islands closest to Australia, your correspondent has yet to encounter any fisher who says he (Indonesian women rarely work as crew) has attended such sessions known as sosialisasi.

That doesn't mean the info distribution hasn't happened, only that it's had little impact.

The boats haven’t been stopped and more than 60 aliens have made it undetected - probably with the help of Indonesian seafarers - over the past five months suggesting the risks get rewarded.

The Opposition has predictably blamed Albanese for the latest arrivals when the real culprit is the ABF’s inattention. Albanese has responded by saying border control principles established by the Abbott government remain in place.

They shouldn't. It's time the  Government rethought its inheritance and set up a department that can do the job - and treat Australians like adults who can be  told what's happening.  That’s part of being in  a democratic society.

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 First published in Michael West Media, 12 April 2024: