SYDNEY: Australia's military intercepted a Sri Lankan boat carrying 13 asylum-seekers last month, Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said on ...
"It is the reason Sri Lanka was the first country I visited after the election, to make sure we can keep these boats stopped," Dutton told the Courier-Mail newspaper. Australia's conservative government was re-elected in May.Under Canberra's hardline immigration policy, would-be asylum-seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Australia are returned to the boat's country of origin.
However, critics accuse the Australian government of seeking to sway public opinion following the relocation of a Tamil asylum-seeker family to Christmas Island on Saturday. "The government would not talk about it but when it is convenient, you get this," Joel Fitzgibbon, an opposition Labour lawmaker, told Channel 9 television.
Thousands of people across Australia protested at the weekend against the decision but Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday allowing the Tamil family to stay would encourage further attempts by asylum-seekers.
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