Julia Gillard has failed to stop the boats Saturday, 09 October 2010 18:49
Another 300 asylum seeker or paying immigrants used people smugglers to get to Australia this week.
There has been no announcement from Labor as to how it will honour election promises that enabled Julia Gillard to be Prime Minister.
The Australian Defence Force is obliged to meet the people smuggler boats as they arrive almost to a schedule.
Gross overcrowding at Christmas Island means that more charter flights will bring refugees to makeshift accommodation in Australia this week.
As people smugglers make vast profits from economic migrants willing to fly past refugee camps to Indonesia, Julia Gillard has failed to stop the huge costs to Australian taxpayers.
The Indonesian government has not stopped smuggler paying mainly Muslim men arriving by air with one way tickets to meet the ferry trip operators to journey to Australia with its social welfare payments.
HMAS Bundaberg, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, intercepted a suspected irregular entry vessel off Flying Fish Cove at Christmas Island early this morning. Initial indications suggest there are 66 passengers and three crew on board. The group will be transferred to Christmas Island where they will undergo security, identity and health checks and their reasons for travel will be established.
More - $200,000 a week spent for asylum fares to and from Christmas Island
ALMOST $200,000 a week is being spent on charter flights to ferry asylum seekers and federal staff to and from Christmas Island to ease pressure on the overcrowded off-shore detention centre.
New figures on the cost of the Government's border protection policy reveal it has been forced to double the number of charter flights on and off the island this year, to an average of one every five days.
The cost of the aircraft has also more than trebled in just 10 months to $8.2 million, or $134,000 a flight. And it is forecast to keep rising, with the Government admitting it will cost an extra $8.1 million next year.
According to the latest figures - detailing the cost of flying asylum seekers from the island to 12 locations on the mainland, including Sydney - in the 10 months to April 30, 62 aircraft were chartered to carry 6500 people to and from Christmas Island.
In the 2008-09 financial year 32 charter flights carrying 2500 people to and from the island cost $2.7 million - an average of $84,000 a flight.
