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Don’t come to Australia through unauthorised channels, warns visiting Home Affairs Minister
View(s):Renewed high interest among Sri Lankans to pay people smugglers for illegal passage brought Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews to Colombo recently with the strong message that nobody who enters the country through unauthorised channels will be permitted to stay.
“We are certainly aware that the people smugglers are doing all that they can,” Ms Andrews told the Sunday Times in an interview. “We are aware that there is interest. We know that the Sri Lanka Navy has been active in October and November, in particular, with disruptions. And we know that the people smugglers will do all they can to convince people that there is a safe passage to them to Australia. That is not the case.”
Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews meeting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo
We are also very conscious that during the COVID pandemic, people have not had the opportunity to travel at all,” she continued. “So we know that a lot of people-smuggling has probably been suppressed. But as Sri Lanka, Australia and the world come through COVID, we are aware that there’s likely to be a heightened interest in the restarting of people smuggling ventures. So, this is definitely a very strong message to people here that this is not the way to come to Australia.”
While here, Ms Andrews and National Security State Minister Chamal Rajapaksa together launched Sri Lanka’s new multi-agency Border Risk Assessment Centre (BRAC) which is jointly funded by Australia and Canada. It is implemented by the International Organisation for Migration as part of the Integrated Border Management Project initiated in 2017. They also discussed strengthening border security, including by installing VMS transponders on around 4,500 multi-day fishing vessels and establishing a land-based monitoring centre. 
Ms Andrews said the Sri Lanka-Australia relationship with regard to people-smuggling had been particularly strong since 2015. “We believe that a cooperative approach within Sri Lanka but also within our two nations is what’s needed at his point of time, certainly in terms of a strong response, not just for people smuggling but for drugs and other illegal acts and mechanisms,” she emphasised.
“There’s absolutely no change in Australia’s border protection policy,” she said. “And we make it very clear that, if you try to come to Australia illegally, you will never ever be able to settle in Australia. We have been very clear on those messages for some time.”
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