Twelve people in border force custody after arriving by boat on isolated section of WA coast
A group of people was detected at an isolated section of the northern Western Australian coast on Wednesday after arriving by boat, prompting Coalition accusations about resumption of dangerous boat journeys.
The Coalition has claimed the group, of whom 12 are now in Australian Border Force (ABF) custody, is the 10th people smuggling venture to reach Australia since the election of the Albanese government. It is not yet clear if they are asylum seekers or fishers.
The Australian, which first reported the group’s arrival, said on Wednesday evening police from Kalumburu flew to the Truscott airbase near where Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal people found the new arrivals, who were reportedly “in poor shape”.
Guardian Australia has independently confirmed the group’s arrival, that they are now at Truscott airbase, and that ABF is planning to transfer them to Nauru. Truscott airbase in located on the Anjo Peninsula in the Kimberley.
In October Guardian Australia revealed a group of 11 asylum seekers had been transferred to Nauru, the first such transfer in nine years.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said the group’s reported arrival “is a further sign that Labor has failed on border security”.
“Under home affairs minister Clare O’Neil and Labor Australia’s border security is getting worse every month,” he said.
Labor has maintained the core elements of Operation Sovereign Borders including: offshore detention, boat turnbacks and take backs where safe to do so, and a ban on refugees or asylum seekers who arrived after 2013 settling in Australia.
But the Coalition claims that Labor policies such as abolishing temporary protection visas – which only applies to the pre-2013 cohort – has softened Australia’s harsh border policies.
Despite Liberal immigration ministers instituting a policy of not commenting on “on-water matters” related to Operation Sovereign Borders, Paterson demanded that O’Neil “immediately front the media and share with the public what the government knows about these reports”.
The ABF told Guardian Australia it does not comment on operational matters. O’Neil, was also contacted for comment.
