Concerns that some people reaching Australia might be making false claims for onshore visa protection have been raised amid debates about border protection.
Last year, over 23,000 asylum seekers reached Australia by plane, based on data from the Australian Border Force. The figures revealed that the number of persons reaching Australia by plane was far less than those traveling by boat, VisaGuide.World reports.
After finding 39 men who arrived illegally on the northwest coast of WA last week, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said there’s too much attention on the coastline and expressed worries about more invalid claims by onshore arrivals.
“What we’re increasingly seeing as a problem is people who are making protection visa claims who have no valid basis for making a claim. They’re using it to see how long they can stay in Australia. So, this is obviously not good for our migration system,” Minister of Home Affairs Clare O’Neil said.
Minister O’Neil added that, more importantly, it disadvantages those who are actually refugees who need stability in Australia, stressing that this is the reason why this problem is being taken so seriously.
According to a report from News.com.au, after more than 24 asylum seekers reached by boat last Friday and were transferred to Nauru, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton criticized the Albanese government, stressing that they have lost control of Australia’s borders. In addition, he also disagreed with claims from the ABF commissioner that spending to protect the coastline has been sufficient.
Minister O’Nail threw accusations of the former government’s handling of asylum requests as a complete disaster, claiming that the nearly 100,000 asylum seekers who reached Australia for a period from 2014 to 2019 were on holiday visas.
“The biggest problem we’ve ever had with this is when he [Dutton] was Home Affairs Minister. He broke records for the number of people who are making onshore PV claims.”
In October last year, Australia’s government unfolded plans to revamp the protection visa system due to it being “broken.”
Back then, the government said that about 90 percent of people who lodge protection visa applications are found not to be owed protection, while the congested system has meant people owed protection have been stuck waiting longer for their asylum applications to be assessed.