Australia: Labor

Chris Bowen Dept: This is not the end of the efforts to deal with what is the very, very, very, very pernicious trade of people smuggling, which trades on people s lives and gives people the expectation that in return for very significant sums of money they can be brought to Australia for passage, Chris Bowen, the Immigration Minister said. Though the opposition coalition voted for the measure, it seemed determined to score as many political points as possible from Labor s change of course. The opposition leader, Tony Abbott, demanded a formal apology from Ms. Gillard for Labor s previous policy, which he said encouraged risky attempts to reach Australia, according to Globe and Mail and the measures passed the lower house with the backing of both the governing party and the opposition coalition, with only two lawmakers voting against them. The upper house is expected to approve them this week. But the debate was emotional and contentious, descending at times into a shouting match. Australia has tried for years to find a policy that will deter would-be immigrants from trying to make the 350-kilometre crossing from Java to Christmas Island, a remote speck in the Indian Ocean that is Australia s closest point to Indonesia. More than 600 migrants bound for Australia have died in accidents at sea since 2009. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.