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'Nope, nope, nope': Tony Abbott says Australia will not resettle refugees in migrant crisis
Date
May 21, 2015 - 11:23AM
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Lisa Cox
Lisa Cox
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An Acehnese fisherman, lower left, help migrants to transfer to his boat on the sea off East Aceh, Indonesia on Wednesday, May 20, 2015.
An Acehnese fisherman, lower left, help migrants to transfer to his boat on the sea off East Aceh, Indonesia on Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Photo: S. Yulinnas
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Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said "nope, nope, nope" to Australia offering resettlement to any of the thousands of migrants caught up in South East Asia's refugee crisis.
"I'm sorry. If you want to start a new life, you come through the front door, not through the back door," Mr Abbott said on Thursday.
Asylum seekers should come through the front door, says Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Asylum seekers should come through the front door, says Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have provoked an international outcry for pushing boats carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi asylum seekers back out to sea.
On Wednesday, the Malaysia and Indonesia backed down from their stance and said they would temporarily allow thousands of people to come ashore – on the condition that international agencies repatriate them within a year.
At a media conference on Thursday, Mr Abbott said Australia would not be offering resettlement.
Norfouna, 2, a Rohingya migrant child poses for identification purposes at a temporary shelter in Kuala Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia.
Norfouna, 2, a Rohingya migrant child poses for identification purposes at a temporary shelter in Kuala Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti
"Nope, nope, nope. We have a very clear refugee and humanitarian program," he said.
"It's a refugee and humanitarian program which has been modestly expanded because we have stopped the boats and we are not going to do anything that will encourage people to get on boats."
Mr Abbott said resettling any of the refugees would encourage the people smuggling trade.
"If we do the slightest thing to encourage people to get on the boats, this problem will get worse, not better."
He said Australia was happy to offer assistance to Australia's neighbours in South East Asia in other ways, including through humanitarian work "inside Burma because part of the problem is the difficulties that some ethnic groups face inside Burma".
But he said there was "no future for anyone in encouraging the people-smuggling trade."
"Australia will do absolutely nothing that gives any encouragement to anyone to think that they can get on a boat, that they can work with people-smugglers to start a new life.
"I'm sorry. If you want to start a new life, you come through the front door, not through the back door."
The United States has said it will take refugees as part of international efforts to deal with the crisis.
Images of emaciated and distressed Rohingya on boats and in camps in recent days have shocked the world.
Despite their having lived in Myanmar for generations, the government refuses them citizenship and other basic rights. Tens of thousands fled their homes in 2012 to escape mob attacks by Buddhists.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, Malaysia and Indonesia said there were still an estimated 7000 people stranded at sea.
Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said earlier that the agency believes about 2000 men, women and children have been stranded on at least five boats near the Myanmar and Bangladesh coasts for more than 40 days in a humanitarian crisis that the Association of South-East Asian Nations appears incapable of addressing.
Other boats have been pushed back out to sea from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand following a crackdown on human trafficking while the latest sighting was off the Thai resort island of Phuket, heading south towards Malaysia.
The UNHCR says that in Myanmar several hundred people have abandoned their journeys and returned to the country's western Arakan state, where 140,000 long persecuted Rohingyas are living in squalid camps.
Twenty-six international humanitarian aid and advocacy groups said in a joint statement that people in the camps need acute emergency assistance, with more than 70 per cent of them having no access to safe water or sanitation.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor supports regional resettlement as a general principle.
"But where there is an unfolding humanitarian crisis in South-East Asia, Tony Abbott's 'not my problem' approach is disappointing. There's no doubt there's terrible violence happening in parts which are affecting the Rohingya people.
He called for the government to "engage" on the issue. |
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