This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
A GROUP of Sri Lankan asylum seekers held on an Australian customs vessel for weeks will be landed for assessment, the government conceded today.
Two boatloads of refugees were intercepted in the Indian Ocean in late June.
Australia handed over passengers from the first boat to the Sri Lankan government after their asylum claims were assessed at sea and rejected.
The handover sparked protests and some of the 157 on the second boat launched a High Court challenge to prevent their handover.
But Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday: “Those who can be returned should and must be returned.”
He insisted that none of those on board would be resettled in Australia.
United Nations refugee agency UNHCR criticised Australia, saying the at-sea screening process was unlikely to have given the migrants a fair chance.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Morrison was making Australia an international disgrace.
“He’s making it up as he goes along,” she said.
