CHENNAI: Australia has now revamped its border protection procedures and there is ‘zero chance’ of any illegal migrants gaining entry in the country, said minister counselor home affairs, Tara Cavanagh, launching the ‘zero chance’ campaign at Chennai on Tuesday.
“No illegal immigrant has entered the borders through boats in the last five years and since 2013, 847 people from 35 smuggling attempts have been returned to their country of origin,” she said. In 2013, the country had implemented Operation Sovereign Borders - a military-led border security operation.
While the campaign is new, the border protection policies are strong and will remain the same, she emphasised. The campaign has been launched after the recent elections to reiterate the border policy. “Since elections are over, we expect smugglers to convince vulnerable people and tell them that they can get to Australia through the sea. We want to send across the message to everyone that there is no chance of illegal entry into Australia,” she said adding that even people who have migrated illegally will have no legal migration outcome.
There are 90,000 Indian students studying in Australia and India contributes to the highest number of skilled migrants, she said adding that the government welcomes more students to Australia.