The Federal Government has reacted angrily to an accusation from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that it has “surrendered” in the battle to curb boat arrivals.

 

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare has ordered an investigation into how a boat full of asylum seekers apparently slipped past Customs surveillance before sailing into Geraldton in Western Australia yesterday.

 

This morning Mr Abbott told commercial radio that the latest arrival was a “disaster”.

 

“It just gets worse and worse all the time and I think effectively the Government has kind of surrendered,” he said.

 

“And the problem with surrendering on boat people is that in the end it discredits the whole of our immigration program.”

 

The boat which arrived in Geraldton was carrying 66 Sri Lankans who said they wanted to get to New Zealand.

 

Their rickety fishing boat, with a ‘Deutsche Bank’ logo painted on the side, was intercepted just 100 metres off shore after locals alerted authorities.

 

They had spent 44 days at sea.

 

It was the first case in five years that an asylum seeker boat had reached the mainland.

 

But Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor accused Mr Abbott of “acting hysterically”.

 

He said 19 boats managed to reach the mainland undetected during the years of the Howard government.

 

“If you’re looking at any benchmark then every Immigration Minister during the Howard years should have resigned,” he said.

 

“The difference is the then-Opposition was not acting hysterically and calling this a ‘surrender’ as the Leader of the Opposition has.

 

“Last week we had Tony Abbott talking about our economy and comparing it with Cyprus and today he’s talking about surrendering.

 

“He is not fit for prime ministership.”

 

Mr Clare also rejected Mr Abbott’s view that the Government had “surrendered”, saying the language was “not helpful”.

 

“It’s indicative of the bigger problem with this debate,” he told ABC radio’s AM program.

 

“The political parties have been fighting about this now for more than a decade, and it’s politics that has poisoned this debate.”

 

Geraldton is 2,240 kilometres south of Christmas Island, where asylum seekers heading for Australia usually make landfall.

 

Mr Clare said Border Protection Command had advised him that the boat travelled an unusual route from Sri Lanka.

 

“Their initial advice is they believe the vessel travelled directly from Sri Lanka to Geraldton, which meant that it travelled in a way that is south of the main surveillance area, south of where most of our planes and patrol boats are focused,” he said.

 

“All of our patrol boats and our surveillance aircraft are targetted at the north west where 99 per cent of vessels arrive and are intercepted.

 

“I’ve asked customs and border protection to review the circumstances of this case and advise me whether there needs to be changes to the way in which we patrol the seas in the north west.”

 

But Mr Clare brushed aside questions relating to the cost of possibly patrolling further south.

“All of the early advice to me is that this is highly unusual,” he said.

 

“We’ll interview the people on the boat to see what their motivations were but 99.9 per cent of vessels that are intercepted are heading either to Cocos Island, Christmas Island or Ashmore Island.

 

“People do that because they’re seeking the shortest trip possible.”

 

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has raised a series of questions the Coalition wants answered by the review.

 

“There are real questions here about whether this boat was able to lay over at another port on the way, where it may have reprovisioned or refuelled,” he said.

 

“I mean just exactly how did this boat find its way to Geraldton?

 

“What route did it take where did these passengers come from? Who organised the vessel?”

 

Christmas Island

 

The group of asylum seekers spent much of the night at a facility within the Geraldton port undergoing health and security checks before buses arrived to transport the single men in the group to the Northam Detention Centre, 460 kilometres south-east of Geraldton, and the women and children to a facility in Perth.

 

The Immigration Department said all 66 asylum seekers would be processed at Christmas Island, but it would not say when they are due to fly there.

 

Mr O’Connor said that was a practical decision that also sends a strong message.

 

“Just because a vessel reaches the mainland does not mean we won’t send those people to Christmas Island,” he said.

“I totally support the Department determining that they be processed on Christmas Island to send a very clear message that anyone who thinks that they arrive in the mainland are going to stay on the mainland for processing are wrong.”

 

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare says the Government has also succeeded in deterring more asylum seekers coming from Sri Lanka by boat.

 

“What we’ve seen over the last few months is a dramatic drop in the number of boats from Sri Lanka to Australia,” he said.

 

“That’s been driven by a decision by the Government to fly people back to Sri Lanka where they don’t meet the refugee requirements.

 

“The risk of death hasn’t stopped people getting back on to a boat but the prospect of being flown home within a couple of days back to Sri Lanka has.

 

“If these people don’t meet the refugee requirements then they’ll be flown back to Sri Lanka.

 

“It’s the most effective thing we’ve been able to do in the last few months.” (ABC)