ADELAIDE—Australia faces a continuing challenge monitoring illegal people movements across South-East Asia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Says.
Mr Rudd said situations were changing rapidly and countries across the world faced the prospect of dealing with more asylum seekers because of push factors in various regions.
"One is huge political instability in Afghanistan and the second is the recent civil war in Sri Lanka," Mr Rudd told radio 5AA in Adelaide on Thursday.
"Therefore we're going to have a continuing challenge in monitoring illegal people movements right across South-East Asia.
"But let me tell you, our investment and our frontline border security operations through the Navy, through Customs, through our intelligence officers, our security offices, our police officers, right across the region, is one of the most intense operations launched by an Australian government abroad in peace time."
The prime minister's comments came after federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said there were thousands more asylum seekers in the pipeline because immigration laws had been wound back under the Rudd government.
"(Mr Rudd) has unpicked a very carefully constructed fabric of policy that has enabled us to have protective borders and little or no illegal arrivals," Mr Turnbull told Macquarie Radio.
"We are now facing what looks like being the beginning of a flood."
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Saturday, March 20, 2010
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