They never give up, those people smugglers.
This is especially the case when they detect an Australian government gone weak at the knees on border security.
There appears to have been a significant uptick in attempts by people smugglers to breach our borders since the High Court released an immigrant detainee last year, only for the Albanese Labor government to panic and release another 148 of them into the community. Quite a few of them have since reoffended, some quite seriously. They were obviously in detention for a reason—to keep the Australian community safe from them—but that doesn’t seem to have entered into Labor’s calculations.
Instead, Labor has sent a clear signal: criminals will roam free if they can make it to Australia.
The people smugglers have listened. Indonesian authorities have detained five suspected groups this year, while another four boats have reached Australia, including two that reached the mainland in Western Australia, and another that reached Christmas Island in May.
This week, there have been two boats carrying a total of around 70 people intercepted and turned back to Indonesia. The people being smuggled are from all over: Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India. It was reported that one group paid up to $15,000 each to people smugglers. It’s a business model that sells false hope, and one of the reasons it makes money right now is because of Albo’s weakness.
Labor – again caving to the fanatics in its left faction, has gotten rid of temporary protection visas, one of the most effective deterrents to people smuggling. These are essentially visas that allow a genuine political refugee to stay in Australia on a temporary basis until conditions in their home country improve so they may safely return. Labor has also dragged its feet on upgrades to patrol boats and surveillance aircraft, needed more than ever now that people smugglers have changed tactics.
Labor must reinstate TPVs to stem the growing tide of people smuggling and make sure we don’t return to bad old days under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, when those incompetent prime ministers oversaw some 50,000 people arrive illegally in Australia on more than 800 vessels. That was the last time we didn’t have TPVs. More than 1200 people died.
We’re not downplaying the difficult task of monitoring millions of square miles of ocean, but is it too much to ask of any government to do one of the most basic jobs a government can have—secure our borders?