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October 17th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Updated
The shelving of the Malaysia asylum deal means the Government will not increase its yearly intake of asylum seekers by 1,000.
The Federal Government has defended the cost of its failed Malaysia asylum seeker swap deal at a Senate estimates hearing, which was told $4.6 million was spent on operational costs linked to the plan.
The Government backed away from the policy last week after failing to secure enough support to change the Migration Act in response to the High Court’s scuttling of the Malaysia plan.
Department officials say the total cost of the shelved policy is yet to be finalised, but the cost of the High Court challenge amounted to more than $300,000.
More than $400,000 has been spent on accommodation for refugees in Malaysia.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland says costs were incurred because the Government believed the policy was ready to implement.
“These things aren’t pulled out of the air. They are prepared on the basis of advice. The preparations were at the stage of it being ready to roll,” he said.
The issue of asylum seekers continues to cause problems for the Government after a weekend newspaper report claimed Immigration Minister Chris Bowen tried to persuade his Cabinet colleagues to agree to the Coalition’s plan to send asylum seekers to Nauru.
This has prompted Prime Minister Julia Gillard to remind her colleagues that Cabinet discussions must be kept confidential.
Mr Bowen told Channel Ten he would not speculate on who leaked the account or whether it was true.
But Health Minister Nicola Roxon says Cabinet leaks are not helpful and only benefit the Opposition.
“I am a strong believer in Cabinet solidarity and Cabinet confidentiality, and I think that all Cabinet colleagues want those Cabinet discussions to be forthright,” she said.
“We want to argue through a range of issues that are important to the nation. The community would expect that, but as a Cabinet when those decisions are made then we are all bound by them.”
Towback option
Meanwhile the head of the Immigration Department says towing asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia was effective in deterring people smugglers in the past but will not work today.
Andrew Metcalfe says about six or seven boats were towed from Australian waters under the Howard government.
The Coalition says towbacks should remain a policy option to stop people smugglers.
But Mr Metcalfe says the policy will not work now because of the possible danger to Australian crew or the passengers onboard.
“Leaving aside the law, I don’t believe that towbacks are operationally feasible,” he said.
“Indonesia has made it very clear that they do not welcome towbacks. There is no agreement with Indonesia. Indonesia is of course not a signatory to the refugee convention.”
Mr Metcalfe also confirmed the Government will not increase the yearly intake of asylum seekers by 1,000.
Under the Malaysia asylum seeker deal, the Government would have raised the overall annual intake to 14,750 people.
Mr Metcalfe told the estimates hearing the agreement with Malaysia will be honoured, but the annual total intake will not increase.
“We will continue to increase our resettlement from Malaysia by 1,000 places,” he said.
“That will inevitably mean a lower number of people coming from other parts of the world to fit within the 13,750 total.”
Plan B
Mr Metcalfe said an alternative plan to the Malaysia solution had been discussed with the Government but would not reveal details of the plan publicly.
But Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison is calling on the Government to reveal its plan B to deal with asylum seekers.
“This Government has more plans than you can shake a stick at,” he said.
Mr Morrison says the cost of developing the policy is another example of Labor bungling.
“This Government’s policy without even seeing the light of day has cost $5 million. This is a Government who has taken spending in this area to a level unprecedented,” he said.
Meanwhile Mr Metcalfe criticised a bid by a media organisation to fly an unmanned aircraft over Christmas Island to try to get images of the detention centre.
The department restricts media access to detention centres but says it is close to releasing a new policy on journalists access to asylum seekers.
Mr Metcalfe says it would have been dangerous if the drone had crashed.
“Fortunately it didn’t crash and hurt anyone, so it was quite a irresponsible thing to do quite frankly to fly an unmanned vehicle, even if it was fairly small, over a place where people are present,” he said.
refugees,
immigration,
community-and-society,
federal-government,
australia
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