(Staff article from the ABC NEWS on 14 June 2022.)
More than 300 Sri Lankans have tried to get to
Australia in the past few weeks as the country's economic crisis has worsened,
with people smugglers claiming those on board will be allowed into the country
under the new Labor government.
Most of the boats were intercepted by the Sri Lankan navy, but two managed to make it to Australian waters. The country is facing economic collapse, and as its people struggle with dwindling supplies of medicine, food and fuel, it is expected more will attempt the journey.
Footage obtained
by the ABC shows fishing trawlers packed with asylum seekers in choppy waters
being caught by the Sri Lankan navy. The ABC has spoken to several people on
one of those boats who were told they would be allowed into Australia under the
new government.
Although Labor's policy on asylum seekers is on par
with the Coalition's — that no-one who arrives by boat will be allowed to
resettle in Australia — people smugglers are taking advantage of the change in
government to sell places on these vessels. In a statement to the ABC, an
Australian Border Force (ABF) spokesman said Australia's policy was
"steadfast".
"People who
travel illegally to Australia by boat will not settle permanently here,"
he said. "People smugglers are criminals and will use any means to earn a
profit at the expense of others. In the case of people smuggling – it is
people's lives at risk.'
Hundreds packed
onto fishing trawlers with no toilets or drinking water. It is a straight
voyage from Batticaloa on Sri Lanka's east coast to Christmas Island, off
Western Australia, and it takes up to 21 days.
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| Australian Navy intercepted the Sri Lankan refugee boat off Christmas Island. |
This was a popular route for asylum seeker boats after Sri Lanka's civil war ended in 2009. People on those boats looking to enter Australia were largely from poor backgrounds and Sri Lanka's Tamil minority who said they would be persecuted in their home country.
This was the
case for the Nadesalingam family, who last week arrived back in the central
Queensland town of Biloela after a four-year immigration battle that brought
the plight of Sri Lankan asylum seekers to the front of many Australians'
minds.
But the boats in
the recent influx have been intercepted all over Sri Lanka and the people on
board have been from both Tamil and Sinhalese communities, and a range of
economic backgrounds.
"What we've found is that some people have paid
thousands of dollars for these journeys, so they had some kind of economic
background," Sri Lankan navy captain Indika De Silva said. "Earlier
it used to be the poor people."
Asylum seekers
from several different boats told the ABC the journey to Australia cost 1
million Sri Lankan rupees, which equates to about $4,000. "I am a
government employee, I don't have lot of money. I get a very small salary so I
had to borrow the money and we paid the full amount to the boat owner,"
Sujith, a school principal, told the ABC.
"As the
Australian government knows, we are struggling, we have no food to eat. We
don't even know what will happen in a few months' time." After paying,
passengers are called on the morning of their journey and driven to an area
where they then get on their vessel. They are loaded onto multi-day fishing
trawlers that frequent Sri Lankan waters in the hopes the vessel will blend in.
But naval
officers say the trawlers being used have so many people on board, sometimes
nearly 100, they can pick them by their heavy load. "Multi-day fishing trawlers
of Sri Lankan origin are not that big, but they carry a lot of people, which is
very dangerous," Captain De Silva said.
The boats don't have a toilet or access to fresh water and food rations are limited. Ketheeswaran was on a boat caught near Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's east coast. Ketheeswaran says he "prayed to God" when the boat he was on was intercepted by the navy.
"I was
asleep inside the boat, some people vomited, and the water was coming inside
the boat," he said. "I prayed to God when the navy flashed their
lights." The people caught trying to go to Australia were detained and
most of them were released on bail, waiting for their next court appearance. People
smugglers lure desperate Sri Lankans with promise of changed Australia.
The ABC has
previously revealed one of Scott Morrison's final acts as prime minister was
instructing the Australian Border Force to issue a public statement about the
interception of an asylum seeker boat on election day.
Previously, Border Force maintained total secrecy about "operational matters". Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews also held a press conference on election day to announce that two boats had tried to get to Australia from Sri Lanka. The Coalition was roundly criticised for politicising national security with these decisions, as well as the controversial text message sent to voters in multiple electorates on polling day.
Poopalapillai
was on board one of the boats intercepted by the Sri Lankan navy in waters off
Batticaloa two days before the Australian election. The vessel started to sink
with 40 people on board.
"The people
smuggling agent said, 'The Australian government will change, the future
government is a good government, and they will let you inside the
country,'" Poopalapillai told the ABC.
"The
journey is very difficult, but I had to manage any way I can, I have to leave
the country. The navy rounded up our boat and ordered us to stop. The crew
wouldn't stop and, because the navy vessel was a ship, our trawler wasn't
balancing, and it sank."
The new Labor government and the Coalition both
support boat turnbacks, offshore detention, and resettlement in third
countries. Some asylum seekers said they had no knowledge about the change in
government, but many said they were told it would help their chances of
entering Australia.
The Australian
government is running an "anti-people-smuggling" campaign in Sri
Lanka, as well as other countries, called Zero Chance. The campaign involves a
competition for "budding filmmakers to creatively express illegal
migration to Australia", as well as online games that simulate an asylum
seeker boat journey.
But it is clear that misinformation about Australia's border policies is spreading through the community. "I heard the Australian government is doing propaganda not to go to Australia by boat but the boat people end up being sent to some islands and then the people are taken into Australia," Poopalapillai said.
The Sri Lankan
navy says people smugglers are using the change in government to sell places on
their boats. Captain Indika De Silva says smugglers are "trying to exploit
the situation".
"We believe
the smugglers have engaged in these activities and have made it another factor
to convince poor people that this change of government may be in favour of
their side," Captain De Silva said. Smugglers find this difficult
situation in the country as a benefit for them, they're trying to exploit the
situation and people are fooled and misled by these smugglers."
While the new
Labor government has granted bridging visas to the Nadesalingam family, and it
is understood permanent visas are being considered, the future for other Sri
Lankan asylum seekers is not clear.
Sri Lanka is currently grappling with its worst
economic crisis in history. The United Nations has warned the country is on the
verge of a humanitarian emergency, with costs rising for basic services and the
government unable to import goods with almost non-existent foreign reserves. The
next four months are set to get worse, with projections that food and fuel
supplies will deteriorate and people from poor backgrounds will be the worst
affected.
Many of the
asylum seekers boarding vessels bound for Australia are from previously
middle-class families who can no longer afford basic supplies, while others are
from poorer backgrounds who were already struggling to survive.
All say living
in Sri Lanka during the crisis is now impossible. Sujith says his children and niece were on one
of the most recent boats to Australia. There were 91 people on board, including
children, when it was intercepted by the Sri Lankan navy at Marawila on Sri
Lanka's west coast last week.
"We don't
have anything to eat. We know this is not the legal route but we are risking
the lives of our children because we have no other choice," Sujith said. "Most
of the people on the boat are from our village, my brother's daughter is only
13 and she went on the boat even though I told her not to. But we are fighting
to stay alive, we want to give them a better life than ours."
Sujith's son Dulmeen has several qualifications — he has finished high school and done courses in heavy machine operation — but cannot find a job in Sri Lanka. Many like him told the ABC they got on the boat to go to Australia so they could send back foreign currency to their families in Sri Lanka, given the value of the rupee has plummeted and foreign currency reserves are so low.
"I don't
have a job in this country, there are fuel problems and electricity
problems," Dulmeen said. "Since the country needs foreign currency I
decided to take a risk and go. Since I have no passport, the only way out was
by boat, but I didn't know how wrong or right my decision was. If I get the
opportunity to go to Australia I would like to earn money there and send
dollars to the people of Sri Lanka."
There is now
pressure for Australia to help with calls from desperate Sri Lankans for the
Labor government to increase its refugee intake on economic grounds. "My
appeal to the government of Australia is to welcome the refugees who are coming
in boats and give them jobs," Dulmeen said. Assist Sri Lanka in their time
of need, Sri Lankans are struggling at the moment."
The Australian
government has said people classified as at risk are given refugee status in
the country. "In relation to refugee resettlement in Australia, priority
is given to the most vulnerable applicants who are assessed as refugees by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and formally referred to
Australia for resettlement," the Australian Border Force spokesman said.
"[And]
those proposed by an immediate family member (i.e. spouses and minor aged
children) or relatives residing in a regional area. The only way to travel to
Australia is legally, with an Australian visa."
The spokesman
did not answer the ABC's questions on whether priority would be given to Sri
Lankans seeking refugee status due to the economic crisis. Ketheeswaran says he
just wants to get a job in Australia and send money back to his family to
support them.
"It's difficult to earn money in Sri Lanka, if I go to Australia, I can earn money and send back to my family to make a happy life," he said. "It's very difficult to live in this country after the economic crisis, there are a lot of Sri Lankans in Australia, I thought if we go there, we can finally live happily."
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