SMH – Send Oceanic Viking to Sri Lanka: Joyce
An Australian customs ship holding 78 asylum seekers off Indonesia should be sent to Sri Lanka, where its passengers are from, Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce says.
Australia has been trying for two weeks to persuade the group of ethnic Tamils to voluntarily disembark the Oceanic Viking and enter the Tanjung Pinang Detention Centre on the Indonesian island of Bintan.
But the group has refused, adamant they want to be taken to Australia even though they were rescued in international waters within Indonesia’s search and rescue zone.
Senator Joyce said if Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wanted to be tough on border protection, he should send the boat to Sri Lanka.
“If you want to show strength, if you want to be decisive… then send the Oceanic Viking to Colombo and you will have made a strong statement,” he told the Nine Network on Sunday. More
ABCÂ – Joyce’s asylum solution ‘breaches refugee convention’
The Federal Government says sending a group of asylum seekers on board an Australian Customs ship back to Sri Lanka would breach the refugee convention.
The 78 Sri Lankans have been on board the Oceanic Viking for three weeks and are refusing to get off.
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce says the Government should send the ship to Sri Lanka.
But the Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith has ruled it out.
“We are certainly not proposing to take up the suggestion of the Leader of the National party in the Senate, that they be returned to Sri Lanka,” he said. More
