Dozens of suspected asylum seekers who arrived illegally in Australia by boat have been deported to an offshore detention centre.
The group of 39 men claiming to be from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh landed on a remote coast near Beagle and Pender Bays in northern Western Australia on Friday.
They have since been deported to the offshore detention center on the Micronesian island of Nauru, northwest of Papua New Guinea.
The arrival sparked a political storm when opposition leader Peter Dutton took aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for abandoning Australian borders.
Albanese responded by saying his government vehemently supports Operation Sovereign Borders and criticized Dutton for politicizing the men’s arrival.
He also called the opposition leader a “cheerleading squad” for human traffickers.
A group of 39 suspected asylum seekers (pictured) claiming to be from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been deported to Nauru after clearing border patrol and arriving in Australia by boat.
Albanese told reporters in Perth on Sunday that the “issue” had been resolved.
“The only person who is on the cheer team is Peter Dutton and he needs to explain why they think the comments he has made disparaging Australia are appropriate,” the prime minister said.
Albanese said he is “not seeking to politicize national security issues” and condemned Dutton’s comments on the issue.
“I think that says more about him than anything else,” he said.
Albanese said his government’s “position on Operation Sovereign Borders is very clear” and that anyone arriving illegally in Australia by boat “will not settle here”.
Operation Sovereign Borders was created by the Abbott Government in 2013 to curb the number of illegal immigrants seeking asylum in Australia by boat.
“I am very pleased that Operation Sovereign Borders has been launched,” said Mr Albanese.
‘It’s the same system that operated before, and we will make announcements about what has happened there through Operation Sovereign Borders, imminently, when that happens. ‘
The group of alleged asylum seekers were found by locals from indigenous communities before authorities arrived in the area and detained them.
The men were found by indigenous communities near Beagle and Pender Bay, in northern Western Australia, on Friday before authorities arrived in the area (pictured).
No boat has been found in the area, and authorities are investigating the possibility that Indonesian fishermen left the group.
One of the asylum seekers told the ABC who had spent five days at sea, traveling from Indonesia to Australia.
After dropping them off at the beach, the group walked about 35 kilometers, he said, before being picked up by locals.
Dutton, who previously oversaw Operation Sovereign Borders as Immigration Minister, said people smugglers are trying to exploit “a weak Prime Minister and a weak (Immigration) Minister”.
“(Mr. Albanese) will tell you he supports Operation Sovereign Borders, but those are not the actions he has taken,” he said Sunday.
‘We know that in the last budget, cumulatively, $600 million has been taken away from the Border Force and Operation Sovereign Borders; As the commissioner of the Australian Border Force points out, they are stretched to the limit.
The suspected asylum seekers were taken to the offshore detention center off Nauru on Sunday after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended his government’s stance on immigration.
“They look at every word and every action of the Government, and they package it, present it as a sales pitch to people who are willing to pay money, the fact is that we have a weak Prime Minister when it comes to our borders.
“He has let this ship through, I think it is the 12th of the ships that have passed so far, and the Prime Minister reaps what he sows.”
WA Premier Roger Cook admitted the incident highlighted the need to ensure WA’s north-west coast was adequately protected.
“This is fundamentally an issue for the federal government to resolve,” Mr. Cook said.
“That’s why we must continue to make sure we have the resources to protect our coasts.”
A boat carrying a dozen asylum seekers landed on Australian shores last November, in a rural area of the Anjo Peninsula, the northern tip of Western Australia.
Liberal Party state MP Neil Thomson told Daily Mail Australia at the time that the arrivals were an “obvious concern” for Australians and indicative of the Federal Government’s stance on asylum seekers.