Boatpeople in open waters bound for New Zealand

By JOHN ANDREWS and EUGENE BINGHAM

A boat carrying 50 asylum-seekers has left Indonesia for New Zealand, prompting officials to step up plans to cope with the first mass arrival of illegal immigrants.

Authorities have met to firm up their contingency plan, which includes the possibility of holding them at Rangipo Prison, near Turangi, although this would be designated an Immigration Service facility rather than a jail.

Australian officials confirmed last night that a steel-hulled boat was bound for New Zealand, but it could still end up targeting the Northern Territory coastline.

The journey could take about 24 days, so the vessel could arrive in the heat of a general election campaign.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the Government was aware of the boat.

He also mentioned ongoing fears that people-smugglers were about to launch a larger ship carrying 300 people.

A group of officials headed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been meeting for months to ensure New Zealand is ready for a mass arrival.

The meetings came amid suggestions that Canberra's tough stance against asylum-seekers had forced people-smugglers to look beyond Australia.

Thousands of people who fled the Middle East and Afghanistan for Australia have been stranded in Indonesia since November.

Overseas intelligence reports say smugglers based in Indonesia have sought other destinations and are making preparations for a journey of three weeks to the Northland coast.

Officials from several Government agencies, including the Immigration Service, met in Auckland last week to fine-tune their plans.

Herald sources say asylum-seekers arriving en masse are likely to be transported to Rangipo, where they would be supervised by private security guards rather than prison guards.

Immigration staff would then begin sorting out their refugee status.

A spokesman for Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the boatload of 50 people was still in Indonesian waters.

Reports varied about the vessel's size as well as the nationality of those on board.

The boat is understood to be flying a Vietnamese flag.

"As to where it's headed, we have nothing firm except the indication that they are looking further east than Christmas and Ashmore Islands, which might mean Darwin.

"But we can't rule out the possibility that they will go through the Torres Strait and into the Pacific," said the spokesman.

"We know there are still a number of smugglers operating in Indonesia, so this is not necessarily the only boat."

Australian patrols in the area, including two P3C Orion aircraft and a frigate, are on the lookout.

Mr Goff said he had been told about the boat, but he understood it was not large enough to have a realistic chance of making New Zealand.

"We in this instance are more likely to be a decoy," he said, suggesting the boat was going to divert towards Australia.

Government agencies were keeping a "watching brief through sources in the Pacific" for any other larger ships travelling to New Zealand.

He denied that a ship had already departed, but said New Zealand was talking to Indonesia about stopping any illegal immigrants before they reached international waters.

"If [a ship] did get on the high seas, there are very limited powers available to intercept it under the international law of the sea, but we would deal with it as a last resort if it entered New Zealand territorial waters," said Mr Goff.

Parliament would this week pass legislation increasing police and Immigration Service powers to deal with illegal immigrants, he said.

The Transnational Organised Crime Bill increases the penalties for people smugglers and also includes changes to the police's search and seizure powers so that they can board boats once they enter New Zealand's "contiguous zone", 24 nautical miles off the coast.

It is understood that official contingencies for mass arrivals include police from the special tactics group intercepting and boarding boats.

The Immigration Service's chief operations officer, Andrew Lockhart, said last night that he was confident New Zealand had the right plans in place.

"I think we learned a fair bit over the Tampa," he said.

Although the service was "operationally ready", Mr Lockhart said it was not yet standing by for the arrival of any particular vessel.

Feature: Immigration