THE Federal Government wants to pass laws to make sure no asylum seekers who tried to come to Australia by boat, even those found to be refugees, can ever enter the country.
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today told media “the door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler”.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier this morning said the government would enshrine in law what had been a longstanding policy, going back to Kevin Rudd’s second prime ministership in 2013.
“This is a tough message we are sending to the people smuggling syndicates and those who pay people smugglers to try and enter Australia,” she told ABC TV this morning.
“We are sending a strong message to those currently in Manus and Nauru, if they are found to be owed protection, they will not be resettled in Australia. If they’re not found to be owed protection, they should return home.”
EXPLORE MORE: New laws will ban boat arrivals forever
This would even apply to accepted refugees later attempting to visit via tourist visa, she said.
“I will never forget 1200 people that we know of drowned at sea coming to Australia under these people smuggling networks,” she said. “We cannot have situations where people are drowning at sea and that is why we are working through the case load, the cohort of people who are on Manus and Nauru, to find third country resettlements for them and if they want to stay in PNG and in Nauru, they can be resettled there.”
Mr Turnbull later told reporters the laws would apply to anyone sent to a regional processing country since July 19, 2013 - the date Mr Rudd declared “asylum seekers that come to Australia by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia”.
Mr Turnbull expects Labor and its leader Bill Shorten will support the laws, saying they are “entirely consistent with his party’s stated public position”.
‘The door to Australia is closed’
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today told media “the door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler”.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier this morning said the government would enshrine in law what had been a longstanding policy, going back to Kevin Rudd’s second prime ministership in 2013.
“This is a tough message we are sending to the people smuggling syndicates and those who pay people smugglers to try and enter Australia,” she told ABC TV this morning.
“We are sending a strong message to those currently in Manus and Nauru, if they are found to be owed protection, they will not be resettled in Australia. If they’re not found to be owed protection, they should return home.”
EXPLORE MORE: New laws will ban boat arrivals forever
This would even apply to accepted refugees later attempting to visit via tourist visa, she said.
“I will never forget 1200 people that we know of drowned at sea coming to Australia under these people smuggling networks,” she said. “We cannot have situations where people are drowning at sea and that is why we are working through the case load, the cohort of people who are on Manus and Nauru, to find third country resettlements for them and if they want to stay in PNG and in Nauru, they can be resettled there.”
Mr Turnbull later told reporters the laws would apply to anyone sent to a regional processing country since July 19, 2013 - the date Mr Rudd declared “asylum seekers that come to Australia by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia”.
Mr Turnbull expects Labor and its leader Bill Shorten will support the laws, saying they are “entirely consistent with his party’s stated public position”.
‘The door to Australia is closed’
