Ian McPhedran, Padraic Murphy/ From: Herald Sun /April 01, 2010 12:00AM
THOUSANDS of desperate Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka have a stark choice: stay and be persecuted or risk the long, dangerous voyage to Australia.
A senior diplomat, experienced in people smuggling matters, said Sri Lanka’s government cared about neither the refugees’ fate nor Australia’s boat people predicament.
Naval intelligence sources told the Herald Sun that Colombo encouraged Tamils to risk the dangerous voyage.
Some Tamil boats have disappeared, though no one knows how many might have perished.
“The only way forward is through multilateral diplomacy using Indonesia, Thailand and even New Zealand to lobby the Sri Lankans,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
Australia has a full-time ambassador for people smuggling issues, James Larsen, whose job is to work with other governments, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Organisation for Migration.
Also yesterday, the Department of Immigration refused to name 100 detainees who have escaped over the past 10 years, though most are believed to be still in Australia.
“As far as photos and identities and such, the Department provides bio-data to police and other relevant law enforcement agencies as part of their investigations. We do not provide this data to the public,” a spokesman said.
Refugee representatives also slammed Tony Abbott’s call for the boats to be turned around.
The Opposition Leader had earlier pleaded for the Government to stop the boats, so people didn’t have to risk their lives on the high seas.
Yesterday, Mr Abbott said: “We’ve got to be able to turn boats around.”
Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said Mr Abbott knew Indonesia would not tolerate boats being towed back to its ports.
“These statements are just looking for cheap headlines to try and gain some political advantage out of making the refugees political footballs,” Mr Rintoul said.
And Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Mr Abbott’s position was a “thought bubble which seems to be 100 per cent headline and zero per cent policy”.
Tags: Australia, News, Sri Lanka's government, Tamil refugees, Tamils
