This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/17/christmas-island-boat-disaster-victims-families-sue-australian-government

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Christmas Island boat disaster: victims' families sue Australian government Christmas Island boat disaster: victims' families sue Australian government
(35 minutes later)
The commonwealth is being sued for breaching its duty of care over the 2010 asylum-seeker boat disaster off Christmas Island in which 50 people died. The Australian government is being sued for a breach of care by the families of those injured or killed in an asylum-seeker boat tragedy that left 50 people dead off the coast of Christmas Island in 2010.
The case has been launched by the human rights lawyer George Newhouse who represented survivors at the 2012 inquest, arguing at the time that government policies were putting lives at risk. Eight plaintiffs – either survivors or relatives of deceased passengers on the SIEV 221 (suspected irregular entry vessel 221) boat – will lodge their case with the supreme court on Tuesday, with a full hearing not expected for at least a year.
It stems from the tragedy on 15 December, 2010, when the asylum-seeker boat known as SIEV 221 (suspected irregular entry vessel 221) smashed onto rocks on Christmas Island. Their lawyer, George Newhouse, said the families would argue the government “failed to adequately fund and resource” a rescue service on Christmas Island, putting the lives of asylum seekers and the Australian navy “at risk unnecessarily”.
Aboard were 89 Iranian and Iraqi asylum seekers and three crew. In the monsoon weather, the vessel escaped detection and it was residents on the island watching the tragedy unfold who raised the alarm. The tragedy on 15 December, 2010, arose when SIEV 221 smashed onto rocks on Christmas Island.
After an eight-month hearing a coroner, Alastair Hope, laid the blame on the people smugglers but he criticised commonwealth authorities for the lack of adequate rescue vessels on the island. Aboard were 89 Iranian and Iraqi asylum seekers and three crew. In the monsoon weather, the vessel escaped detection and it was residents on the island watching the disaster unfold who raised the alarm.
He also urged that measures be taken to increase surveillance of waters around Christmas Island for incoming asylum-seeker vessels. Newhouse represented survivors of the sinking at an eight-month inquest in 2012.
The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told parliament on Monday night he had just been alerted of the planned legal action. The inquest firmly blamed the incident on people smugglers but also criticised commonwealth authorities for the lack of adequate rescue vessels on the Christmas Island. The coroner, Alastair Hope, urged that measures be taken to increase surveillance of waters around Christmas Island for incoming asylum-seeker vessels.
He strongly defended customs and border protection officials and navy personnel involved in responding to this terrible incident. The Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told parliament on Monday evening he had been made aware of the legal action.
"[They] have our absolute respect and our absolute confidence and they have been rightly praised for their heroism and their bravery," he said. He told reporters on Tuesday morning the claim was “shameful and offensive”.
Morrison said Australia was a free country and people had the right to bring legal action when they see fit. “People have the right to bring cases to court, we’re a free country, but they also have to be accountable for the claims that they bring,” Morrison said.
Newhouse, a Labor candidate at the 2007 election and head of the social justice practice at Shine Lawyers, has conducted a succession of asylum-seeker cases. He said the claim was “like someone who has been saved by an ambulance officer at the scene of an accident, being sued for saving the person’s life. It’s like someone who is being held hostage and saved by the police, and suing the police.”
He is participating in the ongoing constitutional challenge to the legality of Australia's asylum-seeker processing centre on Nauru in the Nauru supreme court. But Newhouse told Guardian Australia that Morrison’s comments were unfair.
“That’s the kind of ignorant comment from Minister Morrison who shoots from the hip without the full facts,” Newhouse said.
“We’re not suing the paramedics – the brave navy men and women who put their own lives at risk because the government failed to have an operational rescue on Christmas Island in 2010.”
Newhouse told AAP that under the Migration Act the Australian government becomes the legal owner of a SIEV when it comes within 12 nautical miles of the Australian mainland.
He said the government was responsible for SIEV 221 as its legal owner, had failed to maintain a proper lookout, and failed to maintain a rescue service on Christmas Island that could have saved lives.
“In answer to the minister: it is like having a paramedic service where the ambulance has broken down so it can’t go out to perform a rescue. It’s not the paramedics fault, it is the government’s,” Newhouse told Guardian Australia.