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April 11th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Howard government immigration minister Philip Ruddock has warned it will be harder for the Coalition to stop the flow of asylum boats than it was when they were last in power.
His warning comes as the an “unprecedented” surge in arrivals has pushed the Christmas Island detention facility over its official capacity.
The Immigration Department says about 2,200 asylum seekers are on the island, which is roughly 200 above official capacity.
The department confirmed some asylum seekers are sleeping in tents or marquees for the first one or two days of their stay.
In an attempt to stem the flow of boats, the Coalition has promised to re-introduce the policies of the Howard government if it is elected in the September election.
Those policies include temporary protection visas and turning asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia.
However, former defence force chief Admiral Chris Barrie yesterday cast doubt on the plan to turn back boats, saying it could amount to an act of piracy.
Admiral Barrie said if authorities try to board and redirect a boat found in international waters, that could break international piracy law.
Mr Ruddock said the Howard government received extensive legal advice before deciding to turn asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia.
He said the Coalition enacted the policy in a way that ensured it was not an issue.
“We took comprehensive legal advice from the international area of the Attorney-General’s Department as to the manner in which our forces should engage with those seeking to access Australia without lawful authority,” he said.
Mr Ruddock said Labor policies have not worked and the recent surge in arrivals will make the issue more challenging.
“What we are dealing with is a situation very much more difficult because of the numbers involved and the expectations,” he said.
“You won’t deal with those matters unless you use all the weapons in your armoury.”
‘Unprecedented flow of boats’
More than 4,000 asylum seekers have arrived on the island since January.
Christmas Island’s administrator, Jon Stanhope, said the number of recent arrivals is unusual.
“There certainly has been, over the last month, an unprecedented flow of boats, probably averaging about one a day,” Mr Stanhope said.
Mr Stanhope said chartered planes are regularly used to transfer the asylum seekers off the island.
He says locals accept the regular arrivals with good grace but they hold concerns that local infrastructure is being neglected.
“There is a concern within the community that some of the infrastructure needs that go to the quality of life of permanent residents do need to be given perhaps as much attention or at least equal attention by the Department of Immigration,” he said.
Mr Stanhope said he is not concerned about potential unrest within the detention centres.
Topics:
refugees,
immigration,
community-and-society,
federal-government,
government-and-politics,
liberals,
political-parties,
christmas-island-6798,
australia,
wa
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-12/coalition-faces-tough-task-to-stop-the-boats3a-ruddock/4624512
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