No ‘political correctness’ on immigration - Aussie PM

Australia’s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday vowed not to let “political correctness” get in the way of tackling immigration, signalling a tough line on the issue.

The new Prime Minister is due to make an announcement before a three-month freeze on processing Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum-seekers — which was criticised by the United Nations - ends Thursday.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia wanted to “work not just with the source countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, but also transit countries through our region — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand”.

“We want to ... redouble our efforts to see whether there’s more that we can do,” he told the Ten Network TV station.

Another boat carrying 34 asylum-seekers was intercepted yesterday, underlining a problem that arouses strong passions in voters and is likely to be a major factor at elections expected within the coming months.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who served in Howard’s cabinet, has promised a return to the tough but effective “Pacific Solution” of turning back some boats and detaining and processing asylum seekers in remote foreign islands.

AFP