‘Australia migrant boats major problem’

Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare during a press conference on August 30, 2012.

Australiaâ„¢s Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare says the high number of drowning asylum-seekers on boats headed towards his country is a major problem.

“This is a wretchedly difficult area and it has been poisoned by politics,” said Clare on Wednesday.

The Australian minister also said that domestic and regional cooperation was the only resolution to the problem.

“We have been fighting about this for more than 10 years,” he said, adding that the government Å“should be given the power it needs to stop people dying at sea.”

Clare made the remarks after four more deaths were reported on Tuesday.

Rescue teams managed to pull out 144 people from the water off the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island. The overcrowded boat carrying about 150 people had capsized in the area.

Clare also said that the center-left Labor government was working on making changes to its policies after its plans to transfer immigrants to Malaysia were blocked by the conservative opposition.

Newly elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to announce the countryâ„¢s new asylum-seeking policy.

On July 12, a boat carrying nearly 100 asylum-seekers sank, leaving a child dead and eight others missing.

Australia has been dealing with an influx of asylum-seekers traveling on boat over the past years.

Most of the vessels are from Indonesia, and they are poorly maintained and overloaded, carrying migrants in search of a better life in Australia.

So far this year, more than 13,000 asylums-seekers have arrived in Australia.

SZH/PR

Republished with permission from: Press TV