Australian govt defends Malaysia deal on July 26,2011

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has defended his government's asylum seeker deal with Malaysia, predicting it will reduce the number of boats arriving in Australia and "smash" the trade of people smugglers.

The swap deal, first announced nearly three months ago and officially signed yesterday, means Australia will send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4,000 verified refugees in return.
Key points of the agreement:
-Those sent to Malaysia will be given rights to work, health care and education, unlike the 90,000 refugees already there
-Asylum seekers already on Christmas Island will be processed in Australia, but any arrivals from midnight tonight will come under the new arrangement
-Once the scheme is fully up and running, they will be transferred to Malaysia within 72 hours
-Transferred asylum seekers will receive no preferential treatment in the processing of their claims
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard says it is designed to send a message that asylum seekers should not risk their lives in the hope of having their claims processed in Australia, and Mr Bowen says the deal will deter those people from boarding boats.
"I'm confident it will have a big impact on people's decision to risk their lives, jump on a boat, pay the money to the people smugglers just to face the prospect of being returned to Malaysia," he said.
"So I think it will have a very big impact. I think it will pull the rug from out of the people smuggler's advertising model.
"I think it's saying to people that Australia will resettle more genuine refugees who've been waiting for resettlement.
"At the same time you have to nothing to achieve by getting on a boat."
As part of the agreement, those sent to Malaysia will be given rights to work, health care and education, unlike the 90,000 refugees who are already there.
But Mr Bowen played down the possibility of people with no work rights getting on a boat bound for Australia in order to then claim extra rights in Malaysia.
"People who get on boats to come to Australia get on boats to come and live in Australia - they don't do it for any other reason," he said.
"And by taking that away you really do smash the people smugglers' business model.
"The Malaysian government's made it quite clear that they are improving the situation for asylum seekers across the board, but we have codified and guaranteed protections built into this arrangement."

'Judge us by results'

Mr Bowen also expressed faith in the Malaysian government's ability to successfully implement the new two-tiered system.
"The Malaysian Government have indicated that they are perfectly comfortable with the way that they manage that going forward," he said.
"The Malaysian government has appropriately agreed with us, based on feedback from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and others that these protections are the right thing to do.
"People who are transferred from Australia to Malaysia will be brought to Malaysia, they'll go into a transit centre for up to 45 days [and] that's where they'll receive their first basic checks.
"Then, with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration, they'll move into the community.
"They will have the right to self-reliance, including work rights, they'll have the right for children to attend schools and they'll have the right to basic health care.
"And they'll receive Australia and Malaysia identification to establish their legal right to be in Malaysia, as is very clear in the arrangement."
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which will be providing limited support for the asylum seekers in Malaysia, says the agreement is an "experiment", but says there is no reason why the plan should not work if both governments stick to their word.
The Opposition and the Greens, however, say the Federal Government has no guarantees that those sent to Malaysia will actually be treated humanely.
But Mr Bowen said measures were in place to ensure the asylum seekers would be treated appropriately.
"As you heard [Malaysia home minister] Hishammuddin Hussein himself say, judge us by results," he said.
"He's given directions to his authorities that this is the appropriate arrangement and this is to be implemented. In addition we'll have an implementation task force consisting of representatives of Australia, Malaysia, UNHCR and the IOM.
"And we'll have an advisory group which is open for nominations from non-government organisations who want to be involved to make sure this arrangement works."