New Zealand is unlikely to offer refuge to 78 Sri Lankan
asylum seekers plucked from a stricken boat, Immigration
Minister Jonathan Coleman said today.
Australian authorities have been trying for three weeks to
persuade the asylum seekers to leave customs vessel
Oceanic Viking, which picked them up, and enter a
detention centre on the Indonesian island of Bintan.
They have expressed concerns about being shut up in camps
there for years, but there have been reports Australia is
negotiating with Indonesian authorities for any asylum claims
to be processed faster and resettlement fast-tracked.
Those found to be refugees could go to New Zealand, Canada,
or Australia, with Tamils already deemed refugees to be
resettled first.
Dr Coleman confirmed there had been informal discussions with
Australia, but New Zealand did not believe "an ad hoc
approach dealing with individual cases like the Oceanic
Viking" would send the right message.
There was an international agreement on dealing with people
smuggling and boat people which emphasised prevention,
interception and deterrence, Dr Coleman said.
"We're wary of rewarding actions that seek to jump the queue
for entry to New Zealand. Sending the wrong message won't
help solve similar situations that may arise in the near
future," he said.
"For that reason the New Zealand Government would be unlikely
to offer settlement to asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic
Viking."
Green MP Keith Locke said he was disappointed by Dr Coleman's
statement.
"It is likely that Australia will continue to process Sri
Lankan boat people, and accept some. It would be good for New
Zealand, as a good neighbour, to share the load," Mr Locke
said
"I don't agree with Dr Coleman that accepting Sri Lankan boat
people would be rewarding those `jumping the queue'. Risking
one's life on a boat on the open sea is not done lightly. It
shows how desperate these people are not to be returned to
Sri Lanka."
Mr Locke said taking some of these people in would show New
Zealand was a caring nation as it was in 2001 when it
volunteered to take some of the Afghan refugees off the
Tampa.
