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Agencies

A boat carrying six Chinese men and an alleged Papua New Guinean people-smuggler made it to Australian land earlier this month.
The boat landed on the low-lying north Queensland island of Sabai, 4km from the PNG coast and about 150km north of the tip of Cape York, on August 20.
Sabai is home to about 300 people.
One of the Chinese men, and the Papua New Guinean, were arrested and charged with people-smuggling. They appeared in a Cairns court and have been remanded in custody.
The other five Chinese men have been sent back to mainland China. It is unclear whether they made, or were allowed to make, a formal claim for asylum. It is also unknown what has happened to them on return.
The PNG newspaper the National named the alleged PNG people smuggler as Kolony Bama, 55, from Mabudauan village in the South Fly district of Western Province. It reported he had appeared before the Thursday Island district court on one charge of aggravated offence of people-smuggling.


The last boat to successfully make landfall was in May last year, when a group of 12 Sri Lankan asylum seekers piloted a fishing boat into the lagoon at the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. That group was taken onshore, before being flown back to Sri Lanka.
They were arrested upon return to Sri Lanka.
Vietnamese asylum seekers intercepted by Australian authorities at sea have also been returned to their country of origin, where they have been arrested and jailed, in some cases despite written assurances they would not face prosecution or punishment.  Some of those boats have been intercepted inside Australia’s maritime zone, others in international waters.
Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, confirmed the latest boat’s arrival Wednesday morning.
“I understand that they are before the court,” Bishop said.
“We have very good border security strategies in place and these people were detected.”
Bishop denied the latest boat arrival represented a new wave of asylum seekers.
Asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are either turned back or sent to remote camps in Nauru and on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, where conditions have been widely criticised.
They are blocked from resettling in Australia.

Since the tough measures were adopted, which the government says are essential to prevent deaths at sea, Australia has gone more than 1,000 days since the last asylum-seeker vessel reached its shores.
Under the previous Labor government, at least 1,200 people died trying to make Australia by boat between 2008 and 2013.
Almost 850 vessels carrying 51,798 asylum-seekers arrived between those dates, according to figures compiled by the Australian parliament.
The Guardian, Agence France-Presse


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Asylum seekers in Asia

Boat carrying suspected people smugglers and Chinese men landed on Australian island

A wooden boat carrying asylum seekers in waters off Christmas Island, Australia in 2012. Since the tough measures were adopted, which the government says are essential to prevent deaths at sea, Australia has gone more than 1,000 days since the last asylum-seeker vessel reached its shores. File photo: AP

epa06129703 (FILE) - Asylum seekers are seen behind a fence at the Manus Island detention center, in Papua New Guinea (PNG), 21 March 2014 (reissued 07 August 2017). According to media reports on 07 August 2017, an Iranian asylum seeker, named as Hamed Shamshiripour, 31, with a history of mental illness, has died on Manus Island, in Australia's immigration detention center. The cause of his death is under investigation and the police established a crime scene in a forest area where the body was reportedly found, media added. EPA/EOIN BLACKWELL -- BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE -- ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE PIXELATED AT SOURCE -- AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

FILE - In this May 12, 2013, file photo, Iranian refugees who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia sit on a boat at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. Amid the drama over a refugee resettlement deal between Australia and the United States, the White House has issued a series of conflicting statements on whether the agreement is still on, how many refugees it involves, and who, exactly, are the refugees. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File)

Asylum-seekers win multimillion dollar payout for enduring ‘extremely hostile conditions’ in Manus Island camp

Lawyers Slater and Gordon said they believed it was the largest human rights class action settlement in Australian history

(FILES) An undated handout file photo obtained from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection on February 18, 2014 shows the interior of a tent at Australia's regional processing centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Detainees at a controversial Australian asylum-seeker camp in Papua New Guinea on June 14, 2017, won 70 million Australian dollars (53 million USD) in compensation from the government after alleging they suffered physical and psychological harm. / AFP PHOTO / DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

(FILES) An undated handout file photo obtained from the Refugee Action Coalition on February 18, 2014 shows a man walking between tents at Australia's regional processing centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Detainees at a controversial Australian asylum-seeker camp in Papua New Guinea on June 14, 2017, won 70 million Australian dollars (53 million USD) in compensation from the government after alleging they suffered physical and psychological harm. / AFP PHOTO / REFUGEE ACTION COALITION / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / REFUGEE ACTION COALITION" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS == NO ARCHIVE

Security fences surround buildings inside the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea, February 11, 2017. Picture taken February 11, 2017. Behrouz Boochani/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

Chairs can be seen outside containers used as shelters inside the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Reuters

October leave date in sight for refugees at PNG detention centre despite shaky Australia-US resettlement deal

Detainees walk around the compound inside the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Reuters

Asylum-seekers look through a fence at the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea March 21, 2014. AAP/Eoin Blackwell/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. AUSTRALIA OUT. NEW ZEALAND OUT. PICTURE BLURRED AT SOURCE.

epa04623532 A man watches at a sky-writing reading 'CLOSE NAURU' above Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 17 February 2015. The protest was put together by three individuals calling themselves 'Unaligned Individuals'. Manus island, in northern Papua New Guinea, is used by Australia as an immigration detention and asylum seeker processing centre, where illegal immigrants are kept for long times. EPA/MICK TSIKAS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Photo: Alchetron

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Five of the men have been returned to China while two, including the Papua New Guinean, were arrested and charged with people-smuggling


Boat carrying suspected people smugglers and Chinese men landed on Australian island

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Five of the men have been returned to China while two, including the Papua New Guinean, were arrested and charged with people-smuggling

Five of the men have been returned to China while two, including the Papua New Guinean, were arrested and charged with people-smuggling