Fake fishing boats commissioned by the immigration department continue to form part of the Australian government’s turnback operations, with one sighted on the deck of a customs vessel off the coast of the Cocos islands.

In March last year Guardian Australia revealed the government had ordered and received a fleet of vessels, resembling ageing Asian fishing boats, to replace the controversial orange lifeboats.

Photographs obtained by the West Australian on Monday show one of the vessels sitting on the deck of a customs vessel, Ocean Shield, reportedly near the Cocos islands.

The cost of the fishing vessels is unknown, but Dragon Industries Asia publicised its procurement work in 2014 as a “multimillion-dollar project”, delivering five vessels and with a repeat order. Guardian Australia understands the first five were used – and not retrieved – within months of being commissioned.

The vessels were built in Vietnam, overseen by the Hong Kong firm Dragon Industries Asia, and stored in a Darwin shipping yard. They were made to look like the 12-metre fishing boats commonly seen around south-east Asia, and given spray-painted names like “Farah”.

The Farah was used in a turnback operation a year ago after an asylum seeker boat was intercepted 200 metres from Christmas Island. The 16 occupants reappeared in the West Timor region of Indonesia a week later.

Although the federal government claims no asylum seeker boat has made it to Australia for some time, some people still attempt the journey, including a group on a vessel which in May made it as far as the main bay of the Australian island territory before being intercepted.

Monday’s report said the fishing-style vessels were commissioned to avoid “diplomatic irritation” with Indonesia. Indonesian authorities have repeatedly criticised Australia’s turn-back operations.



The lifeboats, built at a cost of $46,000 each, were used only once each to send asylum seekers back towards Indonesia, landing on the archipelago’s southern coastline.

In February 2014 News Corp reported claims that three people had died after their lifeboat landed on a remote beach and passengers trekked for two days through the jungle.

Human rights lawyers raised concerns about the legality of the fishing-style vessels last year.

During a Senate estimates hearing in February, the head of Operation Sovereign Borders, Maj Gen Andrew Bottrell, would not confirm if the orange lifeboats were still in use or if they had been replaced by the fishing vessels.

“The only thing I can really say there is that we have a wide range of options that are available to us and those options continue to extend,” he said.