Australia’s Abbott plans military solution to boatpeople

Australia’s conservative opposition unveiled plans on Thursday for a military-led response to repel boatpeople, branding the problem a “national emergency” after the government declared a radical new policy aimed at crippling people-smuggling.

With tens of thousands of asylum-seekers risking their lives on leaky boats to reach Australia, the Tony Abbott-led opposition said they would put a senior military commander in charge of a joint agency taskforce to deal with the problem if it comes to power.

More than 15,000 boatpeople have arrived so far this year, with the influx becoming a major policy issue ahead of national elections due by the end of November, with opinion polls suggesting Abbott will beat Labor’s Kevin Rudd and assume office.

“There is a national emergency on our borders,” Abbott said as he launched his Operation Sovereign Borders plan, a day after at least nine people died when an Australian-bound boat sank off Indonesia, the latest in a series of drownings.

“This is one of the most serious external situations that we have faced in many a long year. It must be tackled with decisiveness, with urgency, with the appropriate level of seriousness.

“That’s why we need to have a senior military officer in operational control of this very important national emergency.”

A three-star commander would report directly to the immigration minister, with Abbott saying the scale of the problem “requires the discipline and focus of a targeted military operation”.