Will Torres Strait become asylum backdoor to Australia

Will Torres Strait become asylum backdoor to Australia

Off the far north coast of Australia, another frontline is opening up in the political battle over asylum seekers.

The plan to send all new arrivals to Papua New Guinea was supposed to stop the boats, but there are growing concerns that instead it could simply provide a new route for people smugglers.The Torres Strait, off the northern tip of Queensland, is a strip of ocean where only four kilometres separates Australian territory from PNG.

In the last few days, two boats carrying asylum seekers have been apprehended while crossing the Torres Strait. The Queensland premier Campbell Newman claims the trickle could turn into a torrent, but the home affairs minister, Jason Clare says, the numbers don't bear that out.

7.30 sent reporter Matt Wordsworth to the Torres Strait islands to investigate.

The Torres Strait is a sea bound paradise. Turquoise water spills over coral reefs and sandy beaches. But, for years this sparsely populated frontier has also been a well known smuggling route for drugs, guns and people. This is what passes for a customs checkpoint on Australia's northern most island and the frontline with Papua New Guinea.

There are no scanners or sniffer dogs here. The checkpoint is the boat ramp where names are recorded and quarantine staff look over cargo for signs of pests and disease.

Due to centuries old family links, the Australian Government allows PNG villagers from 13 settlements along the coast free movement in the region and these villagers make the seven kilometre trip every week to bring their goods to market.

DIMAS TOBY, TORRES STRAIT ISLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL: The population is about 300 but throughout the year it fluctuates.

MATT WORDSWORTH: But it’s this proximity that has the local councillor, Dimas Toby, worried about the Federal Government's PNG solution.

DIMAS TOBY: Mr Rudd made that proposal and the decision of, you know, the processing and detention centre down at Manus Island. This is the doorway for internationals to come in. We've had in the past that came through individuals and in a group.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Each year it's estimated that there's about 50,000 crossings from Papua New Guinea to Australia.

So just how close is our nearest neighbour? Well, we're floating above the international border with Papua New Guinea. At about 3.5 kilometres that way is the mainland of PNG. Just over three kilometres that way is Boigu Island, and that's Australia. So all you need for this international journey is a tinny.

Local journalist Aaron Smith says it's not only Boigu Island that has reservations about the PNG solution.

AARON SMITH, TORRES NEWS: A lot of the regional leaders up here are concerned. You know, we have a pretty porous border up here. One of the treaty villages on the island is Saibai, about four Ks from the PNG mainland. That border has about 26,000 crossings a year just to that one island and a significant percentage of those are not legal immigrants, mostly PNG people. But there are concern that that will be a back door into the country.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Those fears were realised on Saturday when two Somalis were detained on Boigu Island. They were flown to Cairns where they will be sent to Manus Island. Just a day earlier, another two suspected asylum seekers were intercepted off nearby Saibai Island. It takes the total number of irregular maritime arrivals in the Torres Strait to 10, already matching last year's total. In 2011 there were one, in 2010, there were none at all.

AARON SMITH: There's not a racquet going on, as far as I've heard, it's more just opportunist people that are really keen to get out here and live in Australia.

MATT WORDSWORTH: This Customs boat crew is the frontline of defence against illegal entry to Australia through the Torres Strait.

Gary Donn (phonetic) is a senior officer normally based in Cairns.

It's a big patch to cover for the two boats in service, about 50,000 square kilometres.

So how often would you do a patrol like this?

GARY DONN, SENIOR OFFICER: (Inaudible) ... at least once a week. We try to prefer to do overnight patrols because it's a more efficient way of using our staff. But they will ensure the vessel goes out somewhere at least every week.

MATT WORDSWORTH: And how many boats like this have you got?

GARY DONN: There's four of them in Australia. One in Western Australia, one in Darwin and one in Gove and there's one here at Thursday Island.

MATT WORDSWORTH: It doesn't take long to locate an international visitor.

GARY DONN: Matt, I just talked to that bloke on the radio. He first pulled into Cairns a few days ago, he's now heading off to Darwin, with a Belgium registered vessel, his English language isn't real good but it's been cleared in the Cairns, we don't have a great deal of more interest in him today.

MATT WORDSWORTH: So let him go?

GARY DONN: Yeah, the details he's given match with what we've got on our system so all's fine.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Alright.

Customs has just 13 staff in the Torres Strait with another six available at short notice in Cairns. There are two helicopters and two boats. But it puts the Queensland Premier at loggerheads with Canberra.

CAMPBELL NEWMAN, QLD PREMIER: The idea that 13 officials are enough to police 270 odd islands and thousands of square kilometres of sea area is preposterous. So, Kevin Rudd, if he wants the PNG solution to work, he needs to essentially properly close the border and make sure that only people who are legit can get across.

JASON CLARE, HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER: I know Premier Newman has been trying to scare everybody up here. Let me give you the facts. The fact is that last year 10 people crossed from PNG to across the Torres Strait and 10 people have made that same journey this year. The difference now, is that everybody that crosses the Torres Strait, without a visa, will get flown to Manus Island. No one will be processed here, no one will be settled here. That's the difference.

MATT WORDSWORTH: To make matters worse, Councillor Dimas Toby says there's also been cutbacks in recent years.

DIMAS TOBY: We've experienced that over the last couple of years that there has been cut back on customs from Thursday Island. There's been cutback on fisheries and...

MATT WORDSWORTH: Does that mean fewer people or fewer patrols?

DIMAS TOBY: There's fewer patrols, but I think if you're really looking to asylum seeker problem I think we really need to step up on security and give Torres Strait region the assurance that, you know, we're safe.

Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty

Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.

About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty.
In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan.

He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.
The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence.

The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.
Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.
"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said.
"Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."

The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.
"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.
"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."


There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so.
He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.
The joint border patrols also keep a watch on illegal fishing.
One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side.
Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat.

One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.

I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.
"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.
"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.
"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.
"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."
Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.

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Australia-PNG joint border patrols

Australia Network's Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney, a former veteran Papua New Guinea correspondent, has just been back to PNG - to a village he has never visited before.

Sean was invited to be part of a joint patrol to Sigabaduru village involving Australian Customs, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Queensland Police, Papua New Guinea Customs, PNG Immigration and PNG Police.

Here's his account of the journey:

The village of Sigabaduru is on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea's Western (or Fly River) Province and is less than three kilometres from the Australian island of Saibai.

We went there in quite speedy tenders launched from a patrol boat, the Australian Customs Vessel Holdfast Bay.

Unlike Saibai which has a wharf, electricity and running water, Sigabaduru - a village of 850 to 1,000 people - has no electricity, no running water and no wharf. That meant wading ashore.

Once on the beach Grant Smith, the Australian Federal Police officer who was in the team, handed over his gun to his PNG counterpart, a policewoman who held it until he was ready to return to Australian territory.

 An Australian Customs officer meets with children in a PNG village during the patrol
PHOTO: An Australian Customs officer meets with children in a PNG village during the patrol (ABC News: Sean Dorney)
Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.

About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty.

In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan.

He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.

The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence.

The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.

Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.

"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said.

"Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."

 Australian Customs officials visit PNG village of Sigabaduru
PHOTO: A meeting of the crew from Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay with the people in the PNG village of Sigabaduru (ABC News: Sean Dorney)
The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.

"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.

"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."

There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so.

He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.

The joint border patrols also keep a watch on illegal fishing.

One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side.

Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat.

One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.

 The Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay
PHOTO: The Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay (ABC: Sean Dorney)
I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.

"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.

"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.

"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.

"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."

Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.

Sigabaduru (Papua New Guinea) is a A city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work in Western Province, (Papua New Guinea, Oceania)

Sigabaduru (Papua New Guinea) is a A city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work in Western Province, (Papua New Guinea, Oceania):

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Air-born(e) baby Rosie

The quaint tale of the stork delivering babies has well and truly been proven a myth, with the truth being, in the Torres Strait at least, that babies are actually delivered in helicopters

ABOVE: Left to right: Rosie McEachern - Advance Care Paramedic, QAS); Mark Kennealy - Co-Pilot; the mother, 19 years old Basau Warapa – with baby ‘Rosie’;  Ian Henning - Aircraft Captain; and Sam Fielder - Rescue Crewman.

PNG’s Basau Warapa, after a painful two days of labour pains, gave birth to her baby while in flight 1200 metres above sea-level, over Moa at 6.26am on April 5, during a routine medical transfer operation travelling between Saibai and Thursday Island Hospital.

Ms Warapa, who is 19-years-old and from the coastal PNG village of Sigabaduru, told the Torres News the experience was "painful" but her flourishing smile while holding her baby girl, weighing 2.46kg (5 pounds 13 ounces), is ample evidence that the trauma was worthwhile.

The amazing story, which garnered headlines across Australia, almost had a tragic ending, however, with the baby girl "not breathing and limp" when born, according to Queensland Ambulance Service Advanced Care Paramedic Rosie McEachern, who was in attendance during the birth.

Quick action by Ms McEachern, including CPR on the newborn, resulting in the baby breathing by itself by the time the helicopter had landed at the helipad at Thursday Island Hospital.

Ms Warapa has honoured Ms McEachern’s pivotal role in the birth of the child by naming it "Rosie"; a tribute which the paramedic says is a tremendous honour.

As the mother has not had any pre-natal care in PNG, Ms McEachern said it is unknown how long the mother had been carrying the child prior to its birth.

Helping Ms McEachern during the birth was helicopter Rescue Crewman Sam Fielder, who has been in the Torres Strait since the start of the year.

At the front of the helicopter was Aircraft Captain Ian Henning and Co-Pilot Mark Kennealy, both of whom will remember the birth of a child onboard for some time yet.

Captain Henning says aircraft controllers in Brisbane took a while to catch on when he announced on the radio that there were now six people onboard the airborne helicopter, despite it having left Saibai with only five onboard.

Mr Kennealy, who had only arrived in the Torres Strait about 12 hours earlier for a short, 11-day deployment, said he was hopeful of some adventure while in the region.

"I knew there would be adventure up here but I certainly wasn’t expecting it on my first shift," he said. "I certainly got what I was looking for."

Australian Helicopters, which operates the aircraft under contract to Queensland Emergency Services, says the birth was a first.

"This was the first time a baby had been born on an Australian Helicopters aircraft in the Torres Strait," said General Manager of Operations at Australian Helicopters, Peter Heath.

"The capability to undertake such a mission has only become possible since January this year with the introduction of the Bell 412 Helicopter which replaces a single engine Bell Longranger helicopter."

Mother and child were due to return to PNG after about a week in the Thursday Island Hospital.