Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, told the Australian ‘National Times’ that more Sri Lankans, who arrived in Australia seeking asylum, had applied to go home.
Last week a group of 18 Sri Lankan men detained on Christmas Island chose to return home rather than be sent to Nauru for processing.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that a heavily laden boat of asylum seekers has been intercepted near Christmas Island as vessels continue to arrive despite Labor’s embrace of the Pacific solution.
The boat carrying 195 passengers – one of the largest to arrive in recent years – had to be assisted early this morning.Three crew were also on board.
This is the biggest number asylum seekers to arrive on a single boat since the government announced on August 13 it would restore offshore processing.
The size of the venture suggests smugglers and asylum seekers alike have not so far been deterred by government warnings about the risk of a lengthy stay in the Pacific.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority called in HMAS Broome to help the vessel north west of Christmas Island.
Well over 3200 asylum seekers have arrived since August 13, far outstripping the projected capacity of camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island to accommodate.
Earlier this week three boats were intercepted inside 24 hours at the remote Cocos Island territory.
Labor has claimed smugglers are running a ‘‘closing down sale’’ and it will take time for the new arrangements in the Pacific to have effect.
Source: Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)
