FED: Lack of success deters boatpeople Ruddock

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-1999
FED: Lack of success deters boatpeople Ruddock

Immigration Minister PHILIP RUDDOCK says stopping illegal immigrants in their tracks and
sending them home is the best way to deter others from trying to enter Australia.

The government has come under pressure to upgrade coastal surveillance measures following
the weekend landing of a tugboat of illegal immigrants on a northern NSW beach.

It's the third load of boatpeople to arrive on Australian shores since Christmas.

Mr RUDDOCK says by apprehending illegal immigrants and sending them home, potential
boatpeople will be deterred.

Forty-seven boatpeople were detained on the NSW north coast on Saturday and another seven
were found wandering in bushland yesterday.





Police have caught another four of the illegal immigrants at Kempsey, south of Scotts Head,
where the 40m-long boat with Chinese markings beached.

They've been taken to Western Australia's Port Hedland detention centre and are being
interviewed by immigration authorities.

AAP RTV daw/sc/rsm/rp

KEYWORD: BOAT (CANBERRA)

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