Morrison to visit Christmas Island

With two boats of asylum seekers picked up in recent days, the federal opposition
says the Christmas Island detention centre is already stretched beyond capacity.
Authorities have intercepted two boats off Western Australia's north coast since
Friday, carrying about 70 suspected asylum seekers.
This brings the number of asylum seekers intercepted in the first three weeks of
2010 to more than 250, putting strain on the Christmas Island detention centre with
its capacity of 1850 refugees.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the centre is well over capacity.
"People are living in tents, they're living in demountables and we've had race riots
there," he told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
Mr Morrison, who will visit Christmas Island this week, said the arrival of the two
boats showed the government's border protection policies were "magnetic" for asylum
seekers.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expected the arrivals to continue but blamed
international factors - continuing conflict in Afghanistan and its border areas with
Pakistan, and the fallout from the Sri Lankan civil war.
"We continue to expect that there will be numbers of people moving throughout our
region, and the prospects and the risk of ongoing boat arrivals is there," Mr Smith
told reporters in Perth.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor also rejected Mr Morrison's criticism of the
government's border protection policies.
"From time to time you will see a surge of irregular arrivals in this country," Mr
O'Connor told reporters in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has called on Australia to
help resolve a long-running asylum seeker stand-off at a Javanese port.
More than 240 Sri Lankan asylum seekers have spent more than three months holed up
on their rickety cargo boat at the port of Merak, in Java's west.
Intercepted by Indonesia at Australia's request in October, the Tamils do not want
to come ashore because they fear they will be forced to wait years for resettlement.
Dr Natalegawa said Australia must be "part of the solution" to the impasse.
In response, Mr Smith said Australia's People Smuggling Ambassador Peter Woolcott
would be travelling to Jakarta in the next week or so to discuss the issue with
local authorities.
"We would want the people to voluntarily disembark from the boat so their
resettlement process can start," Mr Smith said.
He said Australia was a resettlement partner with Indonesia but reiterated that the
Merak stand-off was "a matter for Indonesian authorities".