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December 19th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda ELEANOR HALL: The Federal Government says the tragedy reinforces the need for Australia to put in place a system of offshore processing for asylum claims.
But the Refugee Council of Australia says a much more complex and detailed regional response is needed.
In Canberra, Naomi Woodley reports.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare says Indonesian authorities have accepted the offer of a patrol boat and a surveillance plane to help in the search for survivors but he acknowledges the chances of finding anyone alive are fading fast.
JASON CLARE: I’m told that the waves yesterday reached five or six metres which made the search very difficult.
NAOMI WOODLEY: He told AM the Government’s also agreed to an Indonesian request for extra help from the Australian Federal Police.
JASON CLARE: You’ve got people smugglers that act with a callous disregard for human life and the only way to tackle this effectively, if you’ve got police forces in Australia and in Indonesia, police forces across the region, working very closely together.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The monsoon season often sees a drop in the number of boats attempting to reach Australia but that hasn’t been the case this year. Jason Clare acknowledges people smugglers are becoming increasingly bold, with survivors reporting that they were taken to the departure point in four buses.
The Minister says it reinforces the Government’s commitment to offshore processing for asylum claims.
JASON CLARE: We believe that is the best way to reduce the chance of people getting on a boat. It is the best way to reduce the chance of people dying at sea.
NAOMI WOODLEY: But at the moment you can’t implement that policy so what else do you do?
JASON CLARE: The Government strongly supports offshore processing. The Opposition support it as well and we have to work together. We’ve got to work together to get this done. People expect us to work together in a mature and a sensible way. I know there are people of goodwill on both sides of politics. We have to work together to make sure things like this don’t happen again.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The ABC has asked to speak to the Opposition’s immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and its justice and customs spokesman Michael Keenan but they’ve both been unavailable.
Mr Morrison put out a statement yesterday noting the Coalition’s profound sadness and giving its full support to all assistance given to Indonesian authorities.
The statement says the tragedy confirms the Coalition’s worst fears and the recent trend of people smugglers putting more and more people onto every boat.
The Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Australia should respond to the tragedy by giving more resources to the UNHCR in Indonesia, helping the Indonesian government to better patrol its coastline, and increasing Australia’s overall refugee intake.
SARAH HANSON-YOUNG: Currently, the last 10 years Australia has taken only 60 people on average from Indonesia. Now that is why we have such a backlog of people. It is why people don’t hang around because they see no hope. If we could increase the numbers dramatically to ease the load that would go a long way to saving lives at sea.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Refugee Council of Australia’s CEO Paul Power says there should be a greater focus on improving conditions for asylum seekers throughout south-east Asia so they don’t feel that attempting to get to Australia is their only option.
PAUL POWER: You know if you look at the situation in south-east Asia at the moment, you know, there is no country in which a UN recognised refugee or a UN registered asylum seeker can actually live with legal status, can work legally to support themselves or can get their children into local schools and these are the issues which refugees see as at the heart of their daily problems.
NAOMI WOODLEY: But he says the Government’s agreement with Malaysia is not the solution.
PAUL POWER: Really what we need is a qualitative difference to the situation for refugees within Malaysia. Thailand, where the situation is even worse, Indonesia where there is little support for refugees. We need to see those situations change markedly but unfortunately our national focus has been on ways of getting people out of Australia as quickly as possible really as a signal to others who may wish to head towards Australia.
NAOMI WOODLEY: Paul Power says an increased refugee intake from Australia should be part of any regional agreement.
ELEANOR HALL: Naomi Woodley reporting.
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