All the Oceanic Viking refugees have now been re-settled. Only 21 of the 78 have come to Australia (41 are still in Romania in transit to Canada and the US, 13 in New Zealand and three in Norway). Four of them have been given adverse security clearances by ASIO. They, along with another man, have been denied Australian visas and are being held on Christmas Island.
The stage is set for a repeat of the fiasco of Mohammed Faisal and Mohammed Sagar, the last two detainees on Nauru, who were denied visas on security grounds for five years. No reasons for believing they were “national security risks” have ever been given.
This time Immigration Minister Chris Evans says that there is “no suggestion” that the Tamils “are necessarily hardened terrorists.” Lawyer Rob Stary, who is representing people accused of financially supporting the Tamil Tigers, says Tamils with links to the Tigers should not be deemed a security risk. “ASIO should not be the final arbiter”, he said.
Refugees are not a security risk
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