Asylum seekers in limbo on high seas
A Sri Lankan navy boat (left) on patrol in the southern port of Galle. Photo: AFP
face living in limbo on the high seas in an Australian customs vessel
for weeks, while their fate is decided in the High Court.
Lawyers for the Abbott government and the asylum seekers
agreed on a timetable for court action on Tuesday after the government
promised to give 72 hours' notice in writing if it intended to hand the
asylum seekers to Sri Lankan authorities. A directions hearing will be
held within three weeks, raising the question of where the asylum
seekers will be held in the interim.
During the hearings, the government revealed that it had
intercepted a boat carrying the asylum seekers outside Australia's
migration zone and transferred them to a customs vessel. This follows
the revelation on Monday that it had already handed over to Sri Lanka 41
asylum seekers on another boat after they were subjected to ''enhanced
screening'' at sea.
Illustration: Ron Tandberg
challenge any transfer of the 153 people to Manus Island or Nauru while
the case proceeds, on the grounds that such a transfer would be unlawful
because the boat was intercepted on the high seas.
Another option would be to transfer the asylum seekers to
Christmas Island until the case is decided. Greens senator Sarah
Hanson-Young urged the government to bring the asylum seekers to
Australia to assess their claims, saying they had already been at sea
for three weeks and were ''anxious and frightened''.
Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, argued the group could have been assessed on Christmas Island or Manus Island.
''The government has options,'' he said. ''The reason they
are not taking those options is because they want to protect nothing
other than a political scoreboard - and that is not good enough and in
the process what they are doing is trashing this country's international
reputation.''
Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said the
government had offered no commitments on what it would do with the
asylum seekers in its custody.
''I have no doubt [Immigration Minister] Scott Morrison is
currently working the phones trying to find some godforsaken place to
dump them,'' he said.
In Parliament, the government's Senate leader, Eric Abetz,
defended its hard line on boat arrivals, declaring: ''I see no sense of
social justice whatsoever in giving priority to those who bypass safe
haven after safe haven after safe haven and then pay a criminal to get
them to the front of the queue.''
Human rights lawyer George Newhouse said after the hearing:
''What the government's decision today means is that a group of
vulnerable men, women, and children will not be sent back to their
persecutors in Sri Lanka.''
Mr Newhouse said the asylum seekers would be given access to legal representation.
High Court Justice Susan Crennan said during the hearing that
a challenge to any handover would be heard ''expeditiously'' by the
full High Court.
Counsel for the government Justin Gleeson, SC, said the boat
carrying the asylum seekers had been intercepted outside Australia's
migration zone, ending more than a week of secrecy by the government.
Appearing via video link from Sydney, Mr Gleeson said the government had
the executive discretion to determine where those detained ended up
under the Maritime Powers Act.
Ron Merkel, QC, acting for the asylum seekers, claimed the
government did not have the power to lawfully return the asylum seekers
to Sri Lanka against their will before their claims were determined.
Mr Merkel has issued writs on behalf of 50 of those on board,
including eight children aged between two and 16. He said that once an
assessment of the claims had begun, the government was lawfully bound to
take it to its conclusion under the provisions of the Migration Act.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/asylum-seekers-in-limbo-on-high-seas-20140708-3bl63.html#ixzz36uAu68RM
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