First boat stopped under new regime
STAFF REPORTERS and AAP, The West AustralianUpdated July 20, 2013, 3:45 pm
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The first group of boat people who could be sent to Papua New Guinea under the Australian Government’s tough new asylum seeker policy was intercepted north of Christmas Island this morning.
A brief statement from Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said a boat with 81 passengers and two crew on board was stopped by HMAS Bathurst and transferred to Christmas Island for health checks.
On Friday Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a new hardline policy on boat people, saying people who arrive by boat will have no chance of resettlement in Australia, and will instead by sent to PNG.
The plan, announced by the Prime Minister alongside his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill in Brisbane yesterday, is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and is aimed at crushing the business of people smugglers.
"From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat has no chance of being settled here as a refugee," Mr Rudd said.
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