Stop the boats, save the people

The Australian policy of stopping the boats of illegal immigrants has received support from the Indian government.
Patrick Suckling, the Australian high commissioner to India, tells R. Mohan that there is much to be gained by stopping human trafficking as India and Australia have common interests and concerns, including security.

Is India being allowed consular access to the people on the latest boat stopped on its way to Australia, which is the one that sailed from Pondicherry in July? With India being the country they fled from, does not such access create a ticklish legal issue?
India is a very large and a very vibrant democracy. There is no question of people being persecuted in India politically. That is not an argument we will buy. What is relevant here is where those people came from. The Indian government has asked for consular access because the boat may have been flying an Indian flag. India is trying to establish the identity of the people and the process is on to find out who they are and where they came from. India has taken the principled position that if there are Indians on board the boats they will take them back. Last year, I think, 18 people were repatriated to India.

Does Australia not consider the humanitarian aspects of such refugee movement in a conflicted world?
Australia is a liberal democracy like India with a worldwide reputation for supporting humanitarian causes. But we draw the line on illegal refugees. Australia is happy to welcome people who come in legally.

How does the Australian government react to criticism that some children may have been ill-treated, if one goes by the comments of Australian church leaders?
The last thing Australia wanted was for children to be floating around in the ocean — and not by their own choosing either. The problem is not with the children we have rescued from the sea. The problem is with the traffickers enticing people to put children at risk. The numbers have been reduced by 60 per cent in the last nine months or so. You will never ever get to Australia through any illegal process. And we demonstrate this border control with the hope that people stop trying to become illegal refugees and by putting children at risk.

How successful has been the Australia border protection processes in dealing with the problem of boat people seeking asylum?
Around last July there were all those boats. But in the last six months, there has been only one, which is this one from India. What this demonstrates is that you just can’t jump into a boat and expect to get to Australia and be granted asylum. There are well established processes for this. In the last five years, as many as 9,00,000 people came through the front door to Australia and among them were 75,000 genuine humanitarian refugees.

Moving on to another topic — Is Australia going to allow the sale of uranium to India?  
Australia has taken a policy decision to sell uranium to India. Only thing is we have to negotiate to ensure that the uranium is used only for peaceful purposes. Those negotiations are going on very well. Our policy is very clear and Australian companies will be allowed to sell uranium to India provided conditions are met.

How does the Australian government view the latest political changes in India?
Our bilateral ties are very strong. Both Mr Abbott and Mr Modi are driven by a deep sense of service to their community. They also wish to drive economic growth in their countries. Both have a lot in common, like a desire to do away with the red and green tapes and create a business-friendly environ-ment.