Boat carrying asylum seekers pulls into Geraldton

Updated

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Asylum seeker boat sails into Geraldton (7pm TV News WA)

A group of asylum seekers who arrived in Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth, have undergone health and security checks and were waiting to be transferred to detention facilities late on Tuesday night.

Geraldton is 2,240 kilometres south of Christmas Island, the usual destination of asylum seekers heading for Australia.

It is understood two men in a dinghy first spotted the boat and alerted authorities just after midday (AWST) on Tuesday.

Authorities say the boat was undetected until it made it into the harbour.

The Immigration Department says it planned to send the male asylum seekers to a detention facility in Northam, 460 kilometres south-west of Geraldton, late Tuesday.

Women, children and family groups will be relocated to another facility away from Geraldton, however the department will not confirm where.

The Immigration Department says all 66 asylum seekers will then be transferred to Christmas Island.

However, lawyer David Manne from the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre says the asylum seekers can avoid being sent offshore by applying for refugee status.

Mr Mann has told the ABC the group has different rights to other asylum seekers because they landed on the Australian mainland.

He says they are entitled to legal representation and may be able to avoid offshore detention.

"If they apply for refugee protection in Australia, under Australian due legal process, they're entitled to have their claims assessed here and to not be sent elsewhere," he said.

It is unclear how the boat made it so far south before being spotted.

Those on board were carrying a sign that says they want to go to New Zealand.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare released a statement saying Customs and Border Protection officers as well as Western Australian Police responded to the arrival.

'Close enough to swim'

ABC Geraldton reporter Sarah Taillier says those on board included adults and children:

There's a pile of people on board, just looking around, they all look a little bit confused. There's adults, there's children. I was told it arrived just outside a cafe that's just on the main foreshore, basically smack bang in the middle of Geraldton. When I arrived there it was just being moved slowly towards the port. People who were there said it was close enough to swim - they could have jumped in the water and swam, it was that close to shore. It wouldn't have been deep at all.

Sarah Taillier

Samantha Maisey was working at a nearby restaurant, and says the boat arrival took her by surprise.

"We didn't really see it come in. We just sort of looked up it and it was there. It had a little flag sticking up on the top and lots of people on it," she said.

Steve Branch, who manages nearby cafe, also witnessed the boat arrive.

"There was a rickety old looking wooden boat in the harbour probably about 100 metres offshore that'd anchored there," he said.

"A lot of people on it. You could see it was quite crowded on the decks. It basically just came into the harbour, dropped anchor and waited there."

'Serious breach'

WA Premier Colin Barnett has described the incident as a "serious, unprecedented and unacceptable breach of Australia's border security".

"It's a serious lapse and I simply cannot imagine how this could have occurred," he said.

"For a boat, in broad daylight, to have sailed onto the Australian mainland, in the south of the state and just blatantly sail into Geraldton, that is extraordinary.

"I think there needs to be some questions answered about that.

"I think the immediate issue though is to make sure people are well cared for, that there's no health risk or safety risk to the local community. I'm assured that's being handled well and is in control."

Geraldton mayor Ian Carpenter says he is unaware of an asylum boat ever reaching Geraldton before.

"I'm certainly surprised because, as you would know, I think most of these cases of these vessels come ashore around Ashmore Reef, Broome, in that general area," he said.

"We're some 2,000 kilometres south of there so it is surprising."

Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the "unusual sight" for Geraldton locals is further proof the Government's border protection policies are failing.

"The Government's border failures have got to the point where people just think they can turn up anywhere along the Australian coast," he said.

Mr Morrison has accused the Federal Government of running a "taxi service" for asylum seekers.

"Every time you think things couldn't get worse under this Government they do," he said.

"They have exceeded all expectation for failures on our borders and the events at Geraldton today just underscore that point."

He says if they win the election, the Coalition will implement the policies that were in place under the Howard government.

"A Coalition government's policy is one of physical deterrence. This government has no policy of deterrence, they have a policy of open borders," he said.

Map: Map of Geraldton and Christmas Island

Topics: refugees, geraldton-6530

First posted