Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister, has cautioned that the lack of a refugee swap agreement with Malaysia could lead to an increase in asylum-seekers risking their lives on unauthorized boat trips.
On Thursday, Gillard was compelled to abandon her contentious proposal to transfer up to 800 boatpeople to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 of that country’s refugees after it was blocked by opposition lawmakers.
The intended arrangement sought to stem the influx of hundreds of individuals, primarily from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka, making their way by boat from various Asian locations each year, hoping for resettlement in Australia.
“We face a real danger… of more boats appearing,” Gillard stated on ABC radio, placing full responsibility on opposition leader Tony Abbott, whose Liberal/National coalition declined to support the legislation permitting the swap.
“I believe we should be moving forward with the agreement with Malaysia… it would serve as the strongest deterrent against people putting their lives at risk at sea and boarding unsafe boats,” she expressed.
Gillard noted that over 400 individuals have perished on boats headed for Australia in recent years.
Historically, Canberra processed asylum-seekers in Papua New Guinea and the small Pacific nation of Nauru; however, a recent ruling by the High Court casting legal doubts over the Malaysia agreement raised concerns about all offshore processing methods.
This scenario prompted Gillard’s coalition government to draft new legislation for offshore processing, yet the Prime Minister could not secure sufficient backing to amend the Migration Act.
Human rights organization Amnesty International praised the policy shift but remarked that Australia had been reluctantly compelled to conform to the practices of other Western democracies.
“By default, the government is now positioned to reconsider how we handle onshore processing and directly confront the prolonged periods that vulnerable individuals endure in detention,” said Graham Thom, a spokesman for Amnesty.
The number of individuals seeking asylum in Australia remains relatively low — with only 2,572 arriving on 42 boats thus far in 2011.
