Fed:Renewed calls for asylum seekers to be processed on mainland

AAP General News (Australia)
04-22-2009
Fed:Renewed calls for asylum seekers to be processed on mainland

CANBERRA, April 22 AAP - There are renewed calls for all asylum seekers to be processed
on the mainland amid reports that another boat is on its way.

Authorities are reportedly preparing to intercept another asylum-seeker boat which
could reach Australia within days.

The federal government has not confirmed the report.

The Australian Greens want the government to ensure that any future asylum seekers
are brought to the mainland for processing.

Under current arrangements, people who do not reach the mainland are processed offshore,
which limits their legal claim for asylum, compared to those who make it to Australia.

The Greens said the boat which exploded and sank off the northwest coast of Australia
last week was an example of the two-class system the rules had created.

The 13 asylum seekers taken directly to Darwin for medical treatment were able to apply
for refugee status in Australia.

But 29 others who were first taken to an oil rig, excised from the mainland, will be
processed offshore.

"In this particular case, members of the same family could potentially be presented
with different legal entitlements," Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement.

"The inconsistency ... throws a spotlight on the arbitrary and unfair nature of these laws."

AAP sld/kms/ht/mn

KEYWORD: BOAT GREENS

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