Immigration minister says Australia will not ‘water down’ policies despite Amnesty International claims officials engaged in people smuggling

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The federal government will not be “bullied” into watering down its hardline border protection policies by advocates such as Amnesty International, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said, after the human rights group criticised border force staff for paying people smugglers to turn asylum boats around.

Amnesty International investigated claims from May this year that Australian government officials paid people smugglers $45,000 (US$32,000) to return the vessel and the 65 asylum seekers aboard it to Rote Island in Indonesia.

It found that “all of the available evidence points to Australian officials having committed a transnational crime”, and that officials effectively engaged in people smuggling.

“People smuggling is a crime usually associated with private individuals, not governments – but here we have allegations that Australian officials are not just involved, but directing operations,” an Amnesty UK researcher, Anna Shea, said. “When it comes to its treatment of those seeking asylum, Australia is becoming a lawless state.”

Australian officials paid asylum seeker boat crew, Amnesty investigation alleges Read more

Dutton was undeterred by the criticism, vowing to stick by the policy of turning back asylum seeker boats.



“Amnesty International and others don’t like Operation Sovereign Borders and the fact that we’ve stopped the boats,” Dutton told Macquarie Radio on Thursday. “We’re not going to be bullied into some watering down of that.”

Dutton said Amnesty International had a history of criticising the Coalition’s border protection policies, stretching as far back as the Howard era.



“They don’t like Operation Sovereign Borders, they try to attack border force staff, naval staff, and I think it’s a disgrace,” he said. “I think at the end you can take the word of people smugglers, or you can take the word of our staff at Australian border force.”

Dutton said that Operation Sovereign Borders will remain under Malcolm Turnbull, who ousted Tony Abbott in a leadership spill last month.



“We’re not going to take a backwards step,” he said. “We’re not going to water down our policies.”

Labor’s decision to reverse elements of the Coalition’s border protection policies had led to a greater number of deaths at sea.

“We’re not going back to those crazy days.”

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, told reporters he was “not aware” of any incidents in which Labor had paid people smugglers.

The shadow immigration minister, Richard Marles, was more direct. “There was no paying people smugglers to turn around boats, I can absolutely assure you of that,” he told ABC TV on Thursday.



Until July, when the Labor party national conference ruled to keep it as an option, Labor had been opposed to boat turn backs, and had not engaged in any when they were in office. Nor would that policy change.

“I think paying people smugglers to turn around boats represents a step that we would not go down,” he told ABC TV on Thursday.

He told Guardian Australia the government should release more information about the alleged payments.

“Before we get to royal commissions, we just need an answer from the government, we need a straight answer from Malcolm Turnbull about what happened,” he said.

He said the allegations raised in the Amnesty report amounted to “paying criminals to engage in the crime”.

“Paying people smugglers represents a step that we would not take. It seems to us to give rise to a really concerning precdent, in that it creates a business model for the people smugglers themselves. If they turn up to an Australian Navy vesssel, there’s half a chance they’re going to get given a wad of cash.”

The Greens have vowed to pursue the matter of payments to people smugglers in a Senate inquiry.

“This report contains evidence that contradicts an official submission from the government to this Senate inquiry,” the Greens immigration spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said. “If they are found to have misled the Senate there will be serious consequences.”

She said the Amnesty report should be taken seriously and the government needed to “be upfront with the Australian people about what has been going on... on the high seas”.



“If Australia has been paying thousands of dollars to traffic people back to Indonesia, that is a crime.

“The Australian people have a right to know just what activities their government is involved in.”

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said: “This report is serious and the government can’t just sweep it under the carpet or attack the messenger like it’s done so many times in the past on this issue.

“There has been far too much secrecy in this area ever since the Coalition came to power, and evidence of criminal activity on the high seas cannot be ignored.”

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, rejected the Amnesty report without directly rejecting the claims of payment.

“Australian officials are acting in accordance with Australian domestic law and in accordance with Australia’s international obligations,” she said on Thursday.