Asylum seekers showdown averted for week

The Oceanic Viking has been granted approval to remain in Indonesian waters for
another week, avoiding another possible showdown for its boatload of 78 asylum
seekers.
The Australian customs vessel would have been forced from its current resting spot,
10 nautical miles off Bintan Island, had the Indonesians failed to extend the
deadline due to expire on Friday.
Diplomatic clearance has been granted to the ship until November 6, and the federal
government is confident it will be given repeatedly until a resolution can be found.
"We have infinite patience here," a spokesman from Home Affairs Minister Brendan
O'Connor told AAP.
It means there is still no end in sight to the drama that unfolded for the 78 Sri
Lankan asylum seekers who refuse to make landfall, and the growing debate on home
soil about border protection.
The opposition came under fire on Friday after its immigration spokeswoman Sharman
Stone let slip that it was planning a return to the tough policies of the Howard
government.
"Our policy will include the suite of measures that we had before," she told Fairfax
Radio.
It was one step further than Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull had been prepared to
go, having only conceded the coalition would introduce a refined version of Howard
government policy.
Dr Stone said "the suite of measures" included looking at the type of visa you do
get if you come via an unauthorised, unlawful people-smuggler entry point.
That signalled a return to temporary protection visas, which had proven not to deter
people smugglers, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said.
There were 3,722 irregular maritime arrivals in 1999, the year they were introduced,
with another 8,459 arrivals in the following two years.
"An unfortunate consequence of this was that it forced more women and children to
risk their lives with people smugglers on leaky boats because the harsh conditions
attached to TPVs prevented people from being reunited with their families," Senator
Evans said.
The TPVs neither prevented people from staying in Australia nor had the support of
the UNHCR, he said.
Dr Stone later sought to distance herself from the earlier comments, saying the
measures were only up for discussion.
Any suggestion of returning to the policies of the Howard era would be atrocious,
the Australian Greens said.
Their immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young is still advocating that the 78
asylum seekers be brought to Australia for processing immediately.
The group has been at sea for almost two weeks following their interception by an
Australian navy vessel on October 18.
The spokesman from the home affairs minister's office said Australia would continue
to monitor the health situation, including providing additional supplies and
rotating crew if required.
A doctor is on board and all of the 78 were in adequate health, he said.
But the federal government was still keeping silent on the possible need for force
in removing them from the boat, despite Indonesia's advice on Friday it would not
physically intervene.
Ongoing debate about immigration policy comes as another boatload of asylum seekers
arrived in Australian waters, the 37th this year.
Its 34 passengers and four crew members have been taken to Christmas Island.