Nauru not just for men, says Bowen
The Federal Government has not ruled out sending women and children on flights to Nauru in coming weeks as it steps up deportations to the Pacific Island nation as part of its offshore processing regime.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has come under attack for the process he used to select the first group of asylum seekers to be dispatched to Nauru, with Mr Bowen refusing to say why he opted to send only Sri Lankans on the flight.
A group of 30 Sri Lankan asylum seekers arrived in Nauru from Christmas Island on a charter plane yesterday morning, marking the start of the Government's new tougher border protection regime.
The flight was carried out late at night - in part because the Government feared asylum seeker activist groups could lodge a last- minute court injunction to stop it.
Mr Bowen said the first movement of asylum seekers sent a clear warning to people thinking of boarding a boat for Australia that they risked being sent to Nauru.
"We know that there have been people smugglers out there in the region over recent weeks peddling lies and untruths, saying that this wouldn't happen, that somehow the Nauru processing centre wouldn't be established or that they could provide guarantees that people wouldn't be transferred there," Mr Bowen said.
"The message is very clear: if you arrive in Australia by boat you can be taken from Australia by aeroplane and processed in another country."
Asked how he selected the first group to be sent to Nauru, Mr Bowen would only say it had been an "operational" decision.
"I think you can expect to see a broad cross-section of people transferred to Nauru next week and in coming weeks," he said.
There has been a rise in the number of Sri Lankan boat people in recent months but Afghans and Iranians still make up the bulk.
Refugee advocate Pamela Curr said the Sri Lankans had been lied to by immigration officials who told them they were being flown to the mainland and not Nauru.
"Which is why they boarded the plane quietly," she said.
