STRICT immigration laws prevented a privately owned vessel rescuing 16 people from a sinking wooden boat, the Greens say.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said today she had spoken to an eyewitness to yesterday's rescue who said all 16 people ended up in the sea off the West Australian coast during the navy's rescue attempts.
A leaking vessel carrying the 16 people on board was intercepted by Australian navy ships in the Indian Ocean about 650km west of Darwin yesterday.
There were 10 children and six adults on the wooden boat, but Australian authorities have been unable to confirm their identities or nationality.
Senator Nettle said the eyewitness was on board an oil and gas exploration ship in the Timor Sea.
She said the ship first came across the leaky vessel early yesterday morning and spent the day baling water out of the boat before the navy arrived in the evening.
“The navy was called and took a very long time before they decided how to engage,” Senator Nettle told reporters.
“The way in which they engaged in the attempted rescue led to the people in that boat being in the water without lifejackets.
“It is really pleasing to see that all those people are safe.”
Senator Nettle said the oil and gas exploration ship would have been able to rescue the 16 people but immigration laws prevented them from doing so.
“They weren't able to rescue those people because of our strict immigration laws that prevent them from being able to rescue these people at sea,” she said.
“I don't want lives being put at danger because of the Howard Government's tough immigration stand.”
Senator Nettle said the rescue operation had been needlessly complicated.
But, she said her criticism was levelled at immigration laws, not the navy.
“A rescue raft involved in the rescue of these people got itself caught in a mooring line and then swung into the vessel these people were in (and) they were tipped out into the water as a result of this navy action,” Senator Nettle told reporters.
“Thankfully they were able to be picked up, but that situation could have been avoided were civilian ships in the area able to be involved in the rescue.”
She has called on the federal Government to reveal when they first knew about the leaky boat.
AAP
They were all rescued and the Navy did a great job and she is a whinning tart
Topic: Whinning Commie Greens aka watermelons (Read 1024 times)