do people still get $50 for committing idiots like this. Abbott vows to ‘Sink the Boats’ with ‘pre-emptive’ strikes on asylum seeker vessels - Aamer Rahman. Following his announcement this morning that he would put a military commander in charge of Australian border protection, opposition leader Tony Abbot has promised that he would implement a policy of pre-emptively attacking boats of asylum seekers bound for Australia. Mr Abbot dismissed claims that bombing asylum seekers was a breach of Australia’s international human rights obligations. “We are dealing here with people who are planning to illegally invade and occupy Australian territory. They should not be classed as asylum seekers, but rather as enemy combatants. This is not a humanitarian issue, it is a military crisis. Besides, they’re used to that kind of thing where they’re from.” Mr Abbott continued “… the only way to stop deaths at sea is for people to get a taste of death at sea. The Australian Government has long been involved in boat disruption and sabotage campaigns in Indonesia - this is the next logical step." The policy revelation comes close behind Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s announcement that all asylum seekers arriving by boat would be sent to neighbouring Papua New Guinea with no chance of ever being settled in Australia. Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Rudd Government’s PNG solution was a joke, and that it was “…an open invitation to people smugglers. The Government wants to be passive. We want to be pro-active.” While announcing the new policy, Mr Abbott cited with fondness his memories of the Howard Government deploying SAS troops to board the Tampa, a merchant vessel that had rescued 200 asylum seekers at sea in the lead up to the 2001 election. “That moment brought a tear to my eye. Knowing that we were not simply going to shelter these people, but treat them as criminals – it made me proud to be Australian." Mr Abbot did not think it was necessary to deploy the military to hunt down and extract the thousands of European backpackers who regularly overstay tourist visas in Australia, simply replying “…that sounds a bit draconian, to be honest."
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 03:15:14 +0000
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