The Australian Border Force reported boosting aerial surveillance and intercepting 20 foreign fishing vessels since launching an operation in the Northern Territory in December. This follows several incidents in 2024 where asylum seekers were found arriving in remote Arnhem Land.

While the number of boat arrivals remains low compared to the 15,000 asylum seekers arriving annually before the offshore processing scheme, the issue has gained attention ahead of the upcoming national election in May.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that indigenous rangers would be equipped to patrol the 10,000-km (6,214-mile) coastline. “No one knows that sea country better than those rangers,” he said.

Australia does not allow asylum seekers who arrive by boat to settle, instead transferring them to the Pacific Island nation of Nauru for refugee claim assessments. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has criticized this process. Since July, around 30 asylum seekers who arrived by boat have been sent to Nauru, including 13 in November. A boat with 74 people was turned back in July.

“Anybody who claims that our borders are somehow open is lying,” Burke added. He recently visited Timor Leste to discuss people smuggling and irregular migration before meeting with the Indigenous Northern Land Council in Darwin.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority reported that 110 Indonesian fishers have been prosecuted in Darwin Local Court since July 2024.

Read more

Three US Marines die in ‘tragic’ Australia helicopter crash

Australia to remove British monrach’s image from banknotes

UK announces sweeping measures to curb illegal channel migrant crossings