Former Australian prime minister John Howard has said he feels vindicated by his government’s handling of the Tampa asylum seeker crisis, 25 years after Australian troops stopped a Norwegian freighter carrying people rescued at sea from entering the country’s waters.
The MV Tampa was carrying 433 asylum seekers, many of them Hazara Afghans, after rescuing them from the Indonesian fishing boat Palapa in the Indian Ocean in August 2001. The vessel later became the centre of a confrontation between Canberra and its captain, Arne Rinnan.
Australian special forces boarded the ship on August 31 after the government refused permission for it to enter Australian territory. The incident marked the first time Australian armed forces had been used to prevent an asylum seeker vessel from reaching the country.
Speaking to News24, formerly known as Sky News, Mr Howard defended the decision to take a hard line, arguing that governments which had criticised Australia had since adopted tougher border policies of their own.
“The greatest vindication is that now, many of the countries that criticised me in a sanctimonious manner, especially some of the Scandinavian countries, are now saying, ‘We’ve got to protect our borders’,” he said.
Mr Howard said Australia had continued to accept genuine refugees and contribute to humanitarian programmes, but insisted it should not be viewed as an easy destination for people claiming protection without meeting the relevant criteria.
“The truth is that Australia has always been welcoming to genuine refugees,” he said. “We’ve always played our role in humanitarian help, but we are not a soft touch, we’re not a country that will roll over who claim to be refugees who are not really.”
The Tampa passengers were eventually transferred to the Australian naval vessel HMAS Manoora. About 150 were accepted by New Zealand, while others were taken to Nauru under the offshore processing policy that became known as the Pacific Solution.
The episode helped place border protection at the heart of Australia’s 2001 election campaign and shaped the country’s asylum policy for years. Mr Howard’s government later adopted the slogan: “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.”
