Australia turns back boatload of asylum seekers

Asylum-seekers on the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island await transportation to mainland detention camps

CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia -- The Australian Government has refused a Norwegian ship, carrying more than 400 asylum seekers, permission to enter Australian waters.

It is the first time Australia has rejected boat people and it may test now-friendly relations between Australia and Indonesia.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports Prime Minister John Howard saying the decision was taken after it emerged the ship's captain was threatened and ordered to head to Australia, when the nearest port was in Indonesia.

It is believed five of the 434 asylum seekers aboard the the cargo ship, which had rescued them from an Indonesian ferry, forced the captain to head for the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

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"They were talking in aggressive and a highly excited voices and were really threatening a little bit,"Captain Arne Rinnan said.

"They flatly refused to go back to Indonesia and they were threatening to jump overboard."

Prime Minister Howard said that under international law, the matter was something that must be resolved between the government of Indonesia and the government of Norway.

So far there has been no reaction from Indonesia or Norway.

The asylum seekers were picked up in Indonesian waters and under international law should have been taken to the nearest feasible port, Merak in Indonesia.

Ship off Christmas Island

The ship is now anchored 17 nautical miles northwest of Christmas Island with a cargo of increasingly angry and desperate people, some of whom are suffering from scabies and diarrhoea.

Captain Rinnan said his ship's lawyers had instructed him not to discuss the problem.

He said: "I don't know what will happen. That's all I can tell you."

Prime Minister Howard said there was a clear obligation under international law for the rescued passengers to be taken to the nearest feasible point of disembarkation, which would be Merak.

``I further understand that arrangements had already been tentatively put in place by the Indonesians to receive those people,'' he said.

Howard said Australia would offer humanitarian help, but the nation must send a clear message to those seeking to come to Australia.

Course changed to protect crew

Illegal immigrants take the chance to do some washing after arriving at Australia's remote Christmas island

"We simply cannot allow a situation to develop where Australia is seen around the world as a country of easy destination irrespective of the circumstances, irrespective of the obligation of others under international law and irrespective of the legal status of the people who would seek to come to Australia," Howard said.

The Norwegian-registered cargo ship Tampa took aboard 434 mostly Afghan asylum seekers and five Indonesian crew after answering a distress from their stricken boat on Sunday, Australian Search and Rescue spokesman Ben Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the Norwegian cargo ship was directed to head for Indonesia, but the Tampa's master sent a message saying he had changed course to protect his crew.

"The message received was 'In the interest of the safety of my crew, I have decided to sail to Christmas Island and disembark the survivors," Mitchell said.

He said the Tampa, answered an SOS signal marked out on the deck of a boat in Indonesian waters about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Christmas Island.

"The vessel appeared to have lost propulsion and was drifting," Mitchell said.

More boatloads expected

Christmas Island and Ashmore reef, a collection of atolls off Australia's remote northwest coast, are the two most popular points for boats carrying would-be immigrants from Indonesia to Australia.

Christmas Island is about 1,500 kilometers west of Australia, but is the closest Australian port of entry from the Indonesian island of Java, which lies 350 kilometers to the north.

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio said on Monday another boatload of some 500 people was expected to arrive later Monday on Christmas Island.

The surge in numbers of boat people arriving on Australia's north-western doorstep in the past two weeks is putting considerable pressure on the facilities at Christmas Island, and on detention centers for asylum-seekers in Australia.

Australia maintains a strict policy of mandatory detention for all unauthorized seaborne arrivals while their eligibility to remain in Australia is assessed -- a process that can often take three months and sometimes more than a year.

Australia currently holds about 2,500 asylum seekers, including up to 500 children, in nine camps.

Conditions far from ideal

Immigration Minister Ruddock is adamant Australia's mandatory detention policy won't be weakened

But these numbers are now to be swelled by approximately another 2000 with still more boatloads expected to depart Indonesia in favorable weather.

The Government has announced plans for a further 3000-plus detention places using existing Australian defense facilities on the mainland, but many of these places will not be available for several weeks.

Conditions in the exisiting camps are already far from ideal, with many detainees protesting their detention by rioting, going on hunger strikes, mutilating themselves and attempting suicide.

While most Australians accept that the government must do its best to control the growing influx, there is growing disquiet about conditions in the detention camps.

Australia's Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock is adamant however that no matter how many boatloads of would-be refugees arrive, the policy of mandatory detention will be maintained.

Ruddock said work would start immediately at a Department of Defense facility at Singleton in the state of New South Wales and at El Alamein near Port Augusta in South Australia to prepare contingency immigration detention capacity.

Reuters contributed to this report.