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Europe-Australia Talks Over Stopping Asylum-Seeker Boats: Tony Abbott
Highlights
Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said Australia and Europe were in talks on how to stop asylum-seeker boats after the success of his government\'s controversial polices on the issue.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said Australia and Europe were in talks on how to stop asylum-seeker boats after the success of his government's controversial polices on the issue.
However, the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation EU, said that it was not aware of such talks and that Brussels would never adopt Australia's model of turning back these boats.
Another 5,800 migrants desperate to reach Europe were rescued this weekend as they tried to cross the Mediterranean, more than 2,150 of them on Sunday, the Italian coastguard said.
The number rescued was one of the highest recorded in recent years, raising fears that the tide of people risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East has not been slowed by recent drownings.
"My understanding is that there has been some contact at official level between Australian people and Europeans," Abbott said, when asked if Europe had sought advice on how to deal with the issue.
"Obviously, Operation Sovereign Borders is an object lesson in how to do the right thing by everyone," he added, referring to Canberra's military-led response to boat people.
"To do the right thing by our people and ultimately do the right thing by poor, misguided people who for all sorts of reasons want a better life but very often end up dead if they succumb to the lure of the people-smugglers.
"There is a lesson in what's happened here in Australia for other countries. Quite obviously there is a lesson here."
But Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said in Brussels that she was "not aware" of any European-Australian contacts on asylum seekers.
She said "the European Union applies the principle of non-refoulement," or no forced return under international law.
"We have no intention of changing this. So of course the Australian model can never be a model for us," Bertaud added.
Abbott's conservative government introduced Operation Sovereign Borders after coming to power in September 2013, aiming to turn back boats carrying asylum-seekers before they reach the continent.
Coupled with sending those on board boats that got through to offshore processing camps on the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru and resettling them there, it has proved to be an effective deterrent.
The nation has gone nearly 18 months with virtually no asylum-seeker boat arrivals and no reported deaths at sea, although human rights advocates say it violates Australia's international obligations.
Before this, boats were arriving almost daily and scores of people were drowning en route.
Abbott made the comments while flagging some Aus$500 million (US$390.6 million) in savings due to the policy, largely through the closure of immigration detention centres and less demand for charter flights used to take volunteers back to their home countries.
"The great thing about Operation Sovereign Borders is that, in stopping the boats, we have stopped the deaths," Abbott added.
"If you want to keep life safe, you've got to keep the boats stopped."
Some 1,750 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe this year, 30 times more than during the same period in 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration.
EU leaders are now seeking UN Security Council approval for military action against smugglers in chaos-ridden Libya, where many of the boats sail from.
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