Christmas Island tragedy

Questions have been asked about why navy and Border Protection vessels did not intercept the asylum-seeker vessel before it got into trouble. The Harbour Master has already answered that question so why has it been raised again? It appeared the boat’s attempts to reach the island’s only safe harbour in mountainous seas tragically helped them avoid detection. Wooden boats in mountainous seas don’t show up to clearly on radar and all service boats were on the leeward side of the island anyway as they should be. From the Harbour Master;

s soon as the danger to the vessel became apparent, the navy patrol boat HMAS Pirie and the Customs vessel Triton launched fast, rigid inflatable boats. But they had to travel several kilometres through 5m seas before reaching the stricken vessel and pulling survivors from the water. Locals at the scene said a navy vessel took between 30 and 45 minutes to reach the boat. By that time, it had been ripped apart after crashing into the cliff face. Harbour master Dave Robertson says the navy and Customs acted swiftly and heroically in manouevring their inflatable boats in dangerous conditions. “What the navy and Customs did to save that many people in those conditions is extraordinary. Those coxman are heroes,” he said.

JULIA Gillard wants the Coalition to help the government determine the facts behind the deaths of asylum-seekers in the Christmas Island disaster. The Greens are invited as well so we know the outcome already. It’s all the fault of the terrible People Smugglers and they will recommend that everyone who can afford the $10,000 or $20,000 boat fare be allowed into the country before the genuine refugees. What it wont say is the government have been warned repeatedly that exactly this type of tragedy would occur if they didn’t fix the problem They haven’t fixed the problem…a tragedy occurred.