People Smuggling: Rudd Government's new No Visa No Settlement policy versus Coalition's Turn Back The Boats policy

Each Australian voter will have to make up their own minds which irregular arrival asylum seeker policy to vote for - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's turning back the boats on the high seas or Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's immediate transfer to and resettlement in Papua New Guinea.

Adelaide Advertiser 20 July 2013

Dept. of Immigration and Citizenship 20 July 2013:

If you come here by boat without a visa you won't be settled in Australia.

Australia's migration policy has changed. From 19 July 2013 if you travel to Australia by boat with no visa, you will not be settled here. You will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing. If found to be a refugee, you'll be settled in Papua New Guinea, or another participating regional state, not Australia. This includes women and children. These changes have been introduced to stop people smugglers and stop further loss of life at sea.

If you are not found to be in need of protection, you will stay in Papua New Guinea until you can be sent to your home country.

There will be no cap on the number of people who can be transferred or resettled in Papua New Guinea.

Don't risk your family's safety. Don't waste your money.

Don't risk your life or waste your time or money by paying people smugglers. If you pay a people smuggler you are buying a ticket to another country.

Arriving in Australia by boat means:

• being sent straight to Papua New Guinea for processing
• being settled in Papua New Guinea, not Australia, even if you are found to be a refugee
• not being reunited with family and friends in Australia.

You can still come to Australia through regular migration. Find the right pathway for you and your family.

Fact sheet

     Regional Settlement Arrangement ( 284KB PDF file)

     Regional Settlement Arrangement ( 3MB Word file)

Media release

     Australia and Papua New Guinea regional settlement arrangement

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News.com.au 20 July 2013:

The national campaign will be followed by advertisements overseas.

Liberal-National Coalition asylum seeker policy

2010:

We'll stand up for Australia. We'll stand up for real action. We'll end the waste, repay the debt, stop the new taxes and stop the boats.

2011:

What we've said though is that it should be an option to turn the boats around where it's safe to do so…..Now, the Navy's done it before, it can do it again.

2012:

Tony Abbott has decided that a Coalition government will instruct the navy to turn around asylum-seeker boats on the water and return them to Indonesia in an assertion of Australian border protection.
The Opposition Leader is determined to impose a new and tougher unilateral policy whereby Australia uses its naval forces to actively secure its borders.

2013:

We will deliver stronger borders – where the boats are stopped – with tough and proven measures….We will immediately give new orders to the Navy to tackle illegal boat arrivals and ‘turn back’ the boats where safe to do so….

The Federal Opposition has declared it would send Australian troops - including top level SAS soldiers - to help turn asylum-seeker boats around. But the declaration, from Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, comes after Indonesia expressed concern about the Coalition's "turn back the boats" policy. Mr Morrison declared on Sky News on Monday that the Coalition would replicate John Howard's actions during the Tampa crisis in 2001. He said former prime minister Howard had sent SAS troops to assist during the Tampa incident, indicating a return to similar strategies……

Note: Asylum seeker policies of other parties are not discussed as they do not have a realistic chance of forming government in their own right.