Scott Morrison says Indians among the 157 Tamils afloat for four weeks will be returned to India and none will settle in Australia

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has conceded that 157 Tamil asylum seekers on board a Customs vessel will be brought to Australia, following exclusive revelations from Guardian Australia on Friday that the government plans to land them on the Cocos Islands.



Guardian Australia revealed that the government plans to send the asylum seekers to the remote Curtin detention centre south of Derby in Western Australia once they land, with detention centre staff on Christmas Island being flown to the Cocos Islands.

The decision will mark the first asylum seeker boat arrival in Australia for more than six months and represents a blow to the Coalition's stance on “stopping the boats”.

Morrison told reporters in Sydney the decision had been made after negotiations with the Indian government, which has sought consular access to the Tamils and will facilitate the return of Indian citizens on board.

Morrison said the “most effective and the safest and the most convenient way” of these assessments being undertaken was on the Australian mainland.

Asked by Guardian Australia if the arrivals would be registered by the government’s hardline border protection regime, Operation Sovereign Borders, the minister did not comment.

The minister said the asylum seekers, whose boat was intercepted on 29 June and who have since been kept on a Customs vessel in windowless, locked rooms with just three hours sunlight a day, were being kept in the “excellent care” of Australian Customs.

The minister denied the decision to bring the asylum seekers ashore was in any way related to the high court hearing into the legality of their detention.

“It is our intention those who can be returned should and must be returned," the minister said.

Tony Abbott was also asked about the decision at a media conference later in the day, where he made clear that the Sri Lankan government would also be contacted about those asylum seekers who held Sri Lankan citizenship.

Guardian Australia understands that the Australian government had attempted to return those on board to Sri Lanka before the high court case began, and had also examined the possibility of sending the asylum seekers straight to offshore detention.

Morrison said none of those on board would be allowed to settle in Australia.

But advocates say the asylum seekers would be subject to the Migration Act once the government brought them ashore. It had previously argued they were not subject to the Act and to Australia's non-refoulement obligations because they were intercepted outside Australian territorial waters.



“The question of the legality of the government’s action is still an issue to be decided by the high court, as will any decision to send any of the asylum seekers to India, which is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition.

George Newhouse, a lawyer working for the asylum seekers in the high court challenge, said the decision made “no difference” to the status of the case and he would be seeking access to his clients at the “earliest possible opportunity” for directions.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said that the entire episode represented “a spectacular failure” on the minister’s behalf.

“The Abbott government has created this debacle themselves by acting illegally and failing to treat refugees as human beings with dignity,” Hanson-Young said.

“The government has spent weeks showing nothing but contempt for the parliament, the courts, the asylum seekers on this boat and the Australian people’s right to know.”

Amnesty International said the decision to move the asylum seekers onshore showed the near month long detention of those on board “has achieved nothing”.

“All it has done is prolong and exacerbate the suffering of more than 150 asylum seekers and their families,” said Amnesty Australia refugee spokesman Graeme McGregor.

“It is completely unacceptable they will not have their claims for asylum assessed and all long term residents of India will be returned to the country, after their identities are confirmed by Indian officials.

“This doesn’t remove the risk of the asylum seekers being returned to Sri Lanka, where they may face a risk of persecution or even death,” he said.

Amnesty said the asylum seekers should not be subjected to the government’s “enhanced screening process”, whereby protection claims are rapidly assessed in brief interviews, often without the presence of a lawyer.

Guardian Australia understands from Christmas Island sources that Curtin detention centre staff who had recently been flown in to Christmas Island are now flying back to anticipate the arrival of the Tamils.

The asylum seekers are expected to arrive at Curtin on Saturday afternoon.