Ashmore reef arrivals stir up immigration debate
Eight men have been found on Ashmore Reef seeking asylum and while they landed on Australian territory, they missed out on getting onto the mainland, which means they did not reach our migration zone. According to the Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone, the eight men were most likely left there on Ashmore Reef by people smugglers. The minister has already announced the men will eventually be moved to the detention centre on Nauru for processing. Vanstone has seized on the boat arrival as evidence that Migration Amendment Bill should have been passed all along. So to find out what kind of treatment the men will face on Nauru and how being processed their will effect their ability to get a fair hearing, The Wire spoke earlier with Marion Lay, a registered migration agent, a refugee advocate, one of the few Australians who has actually been allowed onto Nauru and Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition.