off topic slightly, but interesting part in Note Below.
Note: not all press releases specify the number of crew members versus IMAs; and not all boat arrivals may be subject to ministerial press releases. As a result there may be discrepancies with our figures and DIAC or Customs and Border Protection data. 2011–12: figures compiled from ministerial and departmental press releases. Note: not all press releases specify the number of crew members versus IMAs; and not all boat arrivals may be subject to ministerial press releases. As a result there may be discrepancies with our figures and DIAC or Customs and Border Protection data.
WASNT ALP IN GOVERNMENT DURING THAT PERIOD, AND REPORTING WAS SUBJECT TO MINISTERIAL PRESS RELEASE, AND DISCREPANCIES NOT REPORTED, MMMMMMMMMM INTERESTING LIGHT READING, SORRY IF POST IS A BIT LONG.
Year Number of boats Number of people 1976 Lib Caretaker 111 1977 Lib 868 1978 Lib 746 1979 Lib 304 1980 Lib 0 1981 Lib 30 1982–88 Alp 1983 0 Year Number of boats Number of people (excludes crew) 1989 Alp 1 26 1990 Alp 2 198 1991 Alp 6 214 1992 Alp 6 216 1993 Alp 3 81 1994 Alp 18 953 1995 Alp 7 237 1996 Lib 19 660 1997 Lib 11 339 1998 Lib 17 200 1999 Lib 86 3721 2000 Lib 51 2939 2001 Lib 43 5516 2002 Lib 1 1 2003 Lib 1 53 2004 Lib 1 15 2005 Lib 4 11 2006 Lib 6 60 2007 Alp 5 148 2008 Alp 7 161 Year Number of boats Crew Number of people (excludes crew) 2009 Alp 60 141 2726 2010 Alp 134 345 6555 2011 Alp 69 168 4565 2012 (to 9.7.12) Alp 75 138 5459
1975–76 to 2007–08: DIAC, submission no. 32 to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network inquiry, Figure 2, p. 18, 1 September 2011. Numbers of crew members not specified or not included. 2008–09 to 2010–11: Ibid. (excludes crew members 2008–09 to 2010–11); and figures compiled from ministerial and departmental press releases (includes crew members). Note: not all press releases specify the number of crew members versus IMAs; and not all boat arrivals may be subject to ministerial press releases. As a result there may be discrepancies with our figures and DIAC or Customs and Border Protection data. 2011–12: figures compiled from ministerial and departmental press releases. Note: not all press releases specify the number of crew members versus IMAs; and not all boat arrivals may be subject to ministerial press releases. As a result there may be discrepancies with our figures and DIAC or Customs and Border Protection data. Figures include 10 Chinese asylum seekers attempting to travel to NZ by boat in April 2012 who were taken to Darwin after making a distress call and the 18 deceased recovered midway between Christmas Island and Indonesia by Australia search and rescue vessels on 21 and 27 June 2012.
Immigration detention in Australia - March 2013 update
The policy of mandatory detention in Australia (that is the legal requirement to detain all non-citizens without a valid visa) was introduced by the Keating (Labor) Government in 1992 in response to a wave of Indochinese boat arrivals.
Under this policy it is a requirement that ‘unlawful non-citizens’ (a national from another country without a valid visa) in Australia's migration zone are detained unless they have been afforded temporary lawful status through the grant of a bridging visa while they make arrangements to depart or apply for an alternative visa. Most are usually granted temporary lawful status in this manner, but if an unlawful non-citizen is considered to be a flight or security risk, or refuses to leave Australia voluntarily, they may be refused a bridging visa and detained in preparation for their removal.
Currently, all asylum seekers who arrive without authority by boat are detained and usually transferred to Christmas Island initially while their reasons for being in Australia are identified.
The main focus of Australia’s mandatory detention policy is to ensure that:
People who arrive without lawful authority do not enter the Australian community until they have satisfactorily completed health, character and security checks and been granted a visa, and those who do not have authority to be in Australia are available for removal from the country. This paper provides a brief overview of the historical and political context surrounding boat arrivals in Australia since 1976.
Introduction
The term ‘boat people’ entered the Australian vernacular in the 1970s with the arrival of the first wave of boats carrying people seeking asylum from the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Over half the Vietnamese population was displaced in these years and, while most fled to neighbouring Asian countries, some embarked on the voyage by boat to Australia.
The first boat arrived in Darwin in April 1976 carrying five Indochinese men. Over the next five years there were 2059 Vietnamese boat arrivals with the last arriving in August 1981. The arrival of 27 Indochinese asylum seekers in November 1989 heralded the beginning of the second wave. Over the following nine years, boats arrived at the rate of about 300 people per annum—mostly from Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China. In 1999, a third wave of asylum seekers, predominantly from the Middle East, began to arrive—often in larger numbers than previous arrivals and usually with the assistance of ‘people smugglers’.
This background note provides a brief overview of the historical and political context surrounding boat arrivals in Australia since 1976. It includes background on the global context; government policy responses; trends in public opinion on the issues; and links to some of the key resources. This publication also includes boat arrival figures drawn from available sources, including media reports, ministerial press releases and figures supplied by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
