From Amnesty International:
Good governments live up to the values of the public who elected them. They uphold and abide by the laws they help create. They govern transparently, so the public know that those values and laws are not being undermined.
Shortly after being elected, the Australian Government created Operation Sovereign Borders; a vast set of laws, policies and public projects designed to manage our borders.
They claimed that, in order to tackle criminal networks in our region and protect the lives of people seeking asylum in Australia, they needed to operate in secret. We were asked to trust the government to do the right thing.
However, our report reveals evidence that, in May 2015, Australian officials working as part of Operation Sovereign Borders paid USD 32,000 to six crew who had been taking 65 people seeking asylum to New Zealand and told them to take the people to Indonesia instead. The Australians also provided maps showing the crew where to land in Indonesia.
What happened?
Caveat: this interactive timeline is based on the evidence gathered by Amnesty International, including interviews with passengers, crew, Indonesian police, as well as photos and video footage. This is the version of events that has emerged from our research.
Repeat offenders
I don’t know why [the Australians] stopped us. We didn’t enter Australian territory, we had enough fuel, food and everything to reach New Zealand – the boat was in good condition.
Person seeking asylum on boat intercepted by Australia in May 2015
Our report also documents another case of possible payment by Australian officials to a boat crew to take people to Indonesia in July 2015.
This case, unlike the May 2015 incident, has not received widespread media coverage. Yet, public officials again appear to have directed the crew of a boat to take people to Rote Island in Indonesia.
Passengers on the boat told Amnesty International they were intercepted by the Australian Navy and Border Force on 25 July, and then put onto a new boat on 1 August. By this time the boat crew had two new bags the passengers had not seen before. When the passengers became suspicious and threatened to open the bags the Australians repeatedly told them not to. Given the reported events of May 2015, this raises legitimate suspicions that the bags contained money.
Ending the secrecy
When challenged, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott claimed that Operation Sovereign Border officials at all times “have acted within the law”.
Amnesty International’s research suggests this is not the case.
Nothing like the old “wait and return”, paid for both legs. The Shovel offers the appropriate response:
Europe admits keeping its border open this week has been a ‘catastrophic error’.
“Had we known then what we know now, we would’ve had the gates shut Monday night,” a spokesperson said.
She said the decision not to act had already inflicted untold suffering on Europeans. “We’refundamentally weakened,” she said.
One European leader said the imperative to ‘love thy neighbour’ had backfired. “It was misguided altruism. If only we’d listened to Tony Abbott before he actually got here, we could have stopped this,” he said.
He has asked Mr Abbott to fax through his speech next time, rather than making the trip across.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has declared the government won’t be “bullied” by human rights advocacy groups like Amnesty International after it accused the government of transnational crimes in turning back asylum-seekers to Indonesia in May, and possibly in another turn-back in July.
Yeh, it’s Amnesty that a bully!
