Australia: ASYLUM SEEKERS

AAP - August 01, 2011

SYDNEY - The sending of the first boat load of asylum seekers to Malaysia will do very little to stop unauthorised boat arrivals, opposition leader Tony Abbott says.

HMAS Ararat intercepted a boat northwest of Scott Reef in the Timor Sea yesterday morning.

The boat had 54 asylum seekers on board and two crew members. They will be the first lot of arrivals to be sent to Malaysia under the federal government's swap deal whereby Malaysia would accept 800 asylum seekers in exchange for Australia taking 4,000 genuine refugees over four years.

But Mr Abbott said the sending of the asylum seekers to Malaysia less than a week after the Australian and Malaysian governments signed a deal would do little to halt the arrival of boats.

"The ink is scarcely dry on that deal, yet another boat arrives," he told reporters in Sydney yesterday.

Source: THE FIJI TIMES