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ASIO rejects four Viking Tamils
The Australian - January 12, 2010
Paul Maley – Four of the Tamil asylum-seekers rescued by the Oceanic Viking and offered a special deal by the Rudd government will be refused visas after ASIO determined them a threat to national security.
The government lobbied furiously to resettle the 78 Sri Lankans swiftly following their stand-off aboard the Australian Customs boat, but The Australian can reveal that four of the Tamils being held at Christmas Island have been issued with adverse security assessments by Australia's chief domestic security agency, ASIO.
In a further complication for authorities struggling to manage a fresh wave of boat-borne asylum-seekers, it is believed one of the four is a woman who travelled to Australia in the company of her two young children.
The situation presents a conundrum for the government, which cannot return the four to Sri Lanka without exposing them to potential harm from the Sri Lankan government, which in May crushed the decades-old Tamil insurgency with a comprehensive military offensive. Australia would also be in breach of its legal obligations if it returned the four, as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has designated all 78 of the Sri Lankans as legal refugees. However, people subject to adverse security assessments are by law ineligible for an Australian visa, which means the four have no hope of coming to the Australian mainland.
Other countries will also be highly reluctant to take them now that Australia has deemed them a security risk.
The four were part of a group of 16 Tamils who flew from Indonesia to Australia in the final days of last year, amid concerns about their background. They had been held in Tanjung Pinang for about a month after agreeing to leave the Oceanic Viking.
On December 29, six of the Sri Lankans, including the four who have been issued adverse security assessments, flew via charter aircraft from Indonesia directly to Christmas Island.
The next day, 10 of their fellow passengers flew on a commercial flight into Australia, where they joined other Oceanic Viking passengers, who had flown in before Christmas.
Of the 78 rescued, 44 are in a UN transit facility in Romania awaiting resettlement in the US and Canada, 18 have come to Australia and 16 remain in Tanjung Pinang.
The revelations pose new questions about the Rudd government's handling of the stand-off and whether the decision to offer a special deal to leave the boat was driven by security fears.
Yesterday, ASIO refused to comment on the matter. However, an Immigration Department spokesman, Sandi Logan, confirmed adverse security assessments had been issued.
"The passengers from the Oceanic Viking who received adverse security assessments will not be granted permanent visas to resettle in Australia," Mr Logan said.
"They are being held in secure and appropriate detention arrangements while Australia continues to explore resettlement options or they choose to depart voluntarily." Mr Logan confirmed Australia would not seek to deport the four to Sri Lanka, acknowledging it would be a breach of the UN Refugee Convention.
It is not clear precisely what security concerns ASIO identified with the four. However, it is all but certain the concerns would relate to alleged links with the defeated Tamil Tigers.
ASIO is known to be highly concerned that ex-Tamil Tigers fighters may be among the hundreds of Tamil asylum-seekers who have arrived in Australia by boat since the fighting began.
The security concerns are slowing the processing times for Tamil refugees, which refugee advocates say is contributing to rising tensions inside the Christmas Island facility.
The four are understood to comprise three men and one woman whose husband arrived in Australia on an asylum boat months earlier and who is also being held on Christmas Island.
In October, the Oceanic Viking rescued the 78 whose boat was foundering in Indonesian waters. The Viking took the passengers to the Indonesia port of Tanjung Pinang. However, the 78 refused to leave the boat, sparking a political crisis for the Rudd government.
Relations with Indonesia also came under strain, as Jakarta had only days earlier agreed to intercept a boat carrying 255 Tamils following a call from Mr Rudd to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
In order to end the month-long standoff, the Rudd government offered the 78 a special deal, promising all refugees would be resettled in a third country within four to 12 weeks.
Canada, the US, New Zealand and Norway have since agreed to take some of the Sri Lankans.
Revelations that at least four of the rescued Tamils are considered security threats throw new light on the stand-off.
It is not known if the Australian government was aware of the security concerns surrounding some of the Tamils when they were managing the situation and deciding whether to evict the Sri Lankans by force.
The revelations came as authorities intercepted another boat on Sunday night. The boat was carrying 14 asylum-seekers and two crew and was intercepted 5 nautical miles off Christmas Island. It is the fourth asylum boat to arrive this year.
The overflow has forced the department to resort to demountables and tents, a move that has led to stringent criticism from refugee advocates.
One advocate, Ian Rintoul, said even the Immigration Department had acknowledged the centre was overcrowded.
Mr Rintoul said that at a meeting last week between Immigration Department officials and a number of Tamil detainees, staff had conceded the problem existed.
Yesterday, the department declined to comment on Mr Rintoul's claims.
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