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Australia extends reach of tough refugee policy
Agence France Presse - May 16, 2013
Until now, the government only had powers to send illegal immigrants who arrive by boat for indefinite detention in the Pacific when they reached its remote offshore territories such as Christmas Island.
The change, which passed parliament Thursday, strips away any advantage asylum-seekers get from reaching the mainland.
"It will ensure asylum-seekers who unlawfully arrive anywhere in Australia by boat without a visa will be subject to the same regional processing arrangements as asylum-seekers who arrive at an excised offshore place," said Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor.
Most boats land at or are intercepted near the remote Australian territories of Christmas Island, close to Java, or the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Both are considered to be "excised" from Australia for immigration purposes, which means they are subject to special laws allowing for refugees who land there to be processed in regional centers in the Pacific.
To get around this, boats have increasingly been aiming for the mainland with one packed with 66 asylum-seekers managing to evade detection and reach Geraldton in Western Australia in April. On Tuesday a boat carrying 42 people was intercepted near Darwin.
Australia is struggling with a steady influx of boats from Indonesia and Sri Lanka, with arrivals topping a record 16,000 last year.
Though they come in relatively small numbers by global standards, the issue is a political flashpoint in Australia and likely to be a key issue in national elections in September.
Several of the often rickety, overcrowded fishing vessels have sunk in recent years, killing hundreds of people and underscoring the perils of the journey.
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