Tony Abbott urges Europe to adopt stronger border protection policies following migrant boat sinkings

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is urging Europe to "urgently" adopt stronger border protection policies following the latest asylum seeker boat disaster in the Mediterranean.

The European Union held an emergency meeting overnight as the first bodies were brought ashore of 800 people killed in a shipwreck while trying to reach Europe on Sunday.

"Plainly there is a terrible, terrible tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean right now," Mr Abbott said.

"We have got hundreds, maybe thousands of people drowning in the attempts to get from Africa to Europe."

The Prime Minister said while Australians would grieve the loss, European leaders must resolve to stop the "terrible problem".

"The only way you can stop the deaths is to stop the people smuggling trade. The only way you can stop the deaths is in fact to stop the boats," he said.

"That's why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people smuggling trade across the Mediterranean."

Retired Major General Jim Molan, who helped develop the Coalition's Operation Sovereign Borders, said the tragedy highlighted Europe's policy incompetence and said countries had a moral obligation to control their borders.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop described the Mediterranean shipwreck as a horrible tragedy of horrendous proportions and said Australia would be happy to discuss its border protection policies with European countries struggling with an influx of asylum seekers.

"We know that about 1,200 people died trying to get to Australia via the people smuggling trade and we were determined to put an end to that, and we have done so," she said.

"We have managed to stop the flow of people via the people smuggling trade but we have to be ever vigilant. So we are happy to share our experiences.

"We're concerned to share the details of the legislation that we put in place, the actions that we've taken, the policies that we have, but each country will obviously have to deal with this on a national basis and often on a regional basis."

Topics: refugees, immigration, community-and-society, federal-government, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, abbott-tony, australia, greece, spain, italy

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