Abbott unveils 'asylum seeker' billboard

The coalition is turning to street tactics to take advantage of voters'
dissatisfaction with the Rudd government over an influx of asylum seekers.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott joined coalition colleagues in Perth on Wednesday to
unveil a mobile billboard, measuring three metres by six metres, which will show a
running tally of boat arrivals since the Rudd government took office.
The billboard, launched in the seat of Stirling which opposition border protection
spokesman Michael Keenan holds by a slim margin of 1.3 per cent, will travel to
metropolitan areas in Western Australia.
Even before the launch the billboard was already in need of updating, after another
asylum seeker boat - the 112th since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to power - was
intercepted by the navy on Tuesday night.
The boat, carrying 46 passengers and two crew, was intercepted by HMAS Wollongong
near Cape Leveque, 220km north of Broome.
"It's sadly typical of what's been happening since the Rudd government changed a
policy that was working," Mr Abbott said.
"When I left my hotel this morning we had had 111 unauthorised boats, by the time I
got here half an hour later we'd had confirmation of a 112th boat."
But a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the number of boat
arrivals was higher under the former coalition government.
"I'm sure they didn't have their mobile banner around in 1999 when they had 86
boats, or 2000 when they had 51 boats, or 2001 when they had 44 boats and 5000-odd
people on those 44 boats," he said.
The latest asylum seeker boat to arrive in Australian waters - the 44th this year -
will be escorted to Christmas Island where detention facilities are already
overflowing.
It comes after a poll earlier this week showed a huge swing towards an Abbott-led
coalition, in terms of who voters think would best handle the issue of asylum
seekers.
Support for the coalition on the issue has almost doubled from 23 per cent to 44 per
cent since November last year.
Mr Abbott used the latest arrival to push his case that a coalition government could
curb the number of boat arrivals.
"The coalition government will do what's necessary to restore control of our
borders. John Howard did it in the past, we can do it again," Mr Abbott said.
The government has attempted to stem the flow of asylum seekers to Australia by
suspending the processing of claims for new arrivals from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
All new single male arrivals from those two countries will eventually be held at a
detention centre at Curtin in Western Australia, once the facility is operational.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the suspension would do nothing
to halt boat arrivals.
"We've had seven now arrive since that announcement," he said.



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