Latest news April 2014
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The AUS public fully supports Tony Abbott regardless of the harping of the loony left.
More than 40 asylum seekers who attempted to get to Australia by boat have been sent back to Indonesia by the Australian Navy.
The 44 asylum seekers and two crew members were on a boat which issued a distress call 40 nautical miles off Java yesterday morning.
Suyatno, the head of operations at the Jakarta office of Indonesia's rescue agency Basarnas, says his agency did not have the capability to reach the boat.
The Australian Navy intercepted the vessel and then advised Basarnas that it would drop the asylum seekers off.
In the early hours of this morning an Indonesian rescue crew met a Navy ship off the coast of Java and the asylum seekers were handed over.
It is understood the handover took place just outside the 12 nautical mile limit of Indonesian territorial waters.
Suyatno says he does not know why Australia did not take the asylum seekers to Christmas Island.
One of the boats crew members, Azam, says the boat was not broken, despite passengers calling Australia to be rescued.
He says the Navy set fire to the boat at sea.
The passengers and crew have been returned to the Indonesian mainland.
Asylum seekers have only been handed back to Indonesia once before
An interception of this kind, where the Australian Navy hands asylum seekers back to Indonesian authorities after being asked to assist in their rescue, only happened once during the six years of the last Labor government.
On that occasion, last year, a boat sank near the mouth of the Sunda Strait off west Java.
The asylum seekers said the Navy told them they would be taken to Darwin for medical treatment.
But in the middle of the night, the Australian Navy forced the sick and sunburnt Afghan asylum seekers FACT it turns out they were Iranian, Pakis & Iraqis' onto a Basarnas boat to be returned to Indonesia.
At the time the Labor Government claimed that was an operational decision made by the Navy.
On all other occasions when asylum seekers have been intercepted by Australian authorities, they have been taken to Christmas Island.
Analysis: Operation hints at new tougher approach under Operation Sovereign Borders
The ABC's Parliament House bureau chief Greg Jennett says that while this rescue does not strictly qualify as a boat "turn back", it hints at a new and tougher approach by Australia.
He says it could also establish a precedent with Indonesia whereby any call for Australian help with rescues or intercepts comes with a condition that the passengers will be handed back.
But the public may never know if such protocols exist.
The Government is sticking by its policy of not commenting on the operational details of any intercepts at sea under Operation Sovereign Borders.
The next opportunity to question the Immigration Minister and his Commander will be at their scheduled briefing, due next Monday.
Boat was carrying asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq and Pakistan
It is understood the passengers on the asylum vessel were from Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.
Crew member Azam has told ABC News that he was tricked into skippering the boat to Australia.
"I was offered work in a tourist boat by a man called Adi. He recruited me in Lombok and flew me to Jakarta airport," he said.
"Then I was taken to an unknown beach with a car and met these passengers and the boat."
He said there was nothing wrong with the boat when the Australian Navy "intercepted" it, and the engine was working.
It appears the asylum seekers called the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, hoping to get rescued and taken to Australia.
The transfer of the people back to west Java has caused a minor dispute with local immigration authorities, who did not want responsibility for the asylum seekers.
Unless they have UNHCR asylum seeker or refugee papers they will be treated as illegal immigrants, but Indonesia's immigration detention network is over capacity.
Indonesia now says briefing note on Bishop Talks was sent by mistake.
Way to go Tony a real Aussie leader & Hero
