SYDNEY // ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan has labelled as "counterproductive" the controversial policy of the Australian opposition party to turn back asylum-seeker boats, a report said yesterday.
As part of his plan to tackle the growing problem, opposition leader Tony Abbott has said he will instruct the navy to tow back the boats, which mostly travel from Indonesia, if he wins power in elections due next year.
Southeast Asia's top diplomat said he believed much of what Abbott said was rhetoric for a domestic audience but warned Australia's ties to the region could be hurt if he followed through with his threat.
Pitsuwan, who heads the 10-nation grouping, told the Sydney Morning Herald: "It will be counterproductive just to impose certain decisions on the neighbours at the risk of losing many other agendas, many other issues on the international agenda.
"I don't think it's worth it."
Asylum-seekers arriving by boat are a contentious issue in Australia, where many consider those who bypass official refugee channels to make the dangerous journey as "queue jumpers".
More than 12,000 have arrived so far in 2012, with the ruling Labor government now sending them to offshore processing camps in the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea as a deterrent measure.
Pitsuwan said the issue could only be resolved by a regional approach, not "by divorcing, by turning your back to us".
He suggested much of what Abbott said on the issue was political point-scoring.
"Rhetoric, political rhetoric, you have to take (Abbott's comments) as such," he said.
"I think Southeast Asia or ASEAN is really mature enough to appreciate that some of them are internal rhetoric for internal consumption, for internal political communication."
Abbott is yet to outline details of how his tow-back policy would work in practice but insists it would undermine people-smugglers' business model and deter asylum-seekers from attempting the dangerous voyage.
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
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Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Reading/Cardiff City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v Shrewsbury Town/Liverpool
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Leicester City v Coventry City/Birmingham City
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Started: 2021
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Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Published by Liveright
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Profile of Udrive
Date started: March 2016
Founder: Hasib Khan
Based: Dubai
Employees: 40
Amount raised (to date): $3.25m – $750,000 seed funding in 2017 and a Seed round of $2.5m last year. Raised $1.3m from Eureeca investors in January 2021 as part of a Series A round with a $5m target.
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Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books