Senator The Honourable Amanda Vanstone
Minister For Immigration and Multiculturalism
and Indigenous Affairs
Suite MF 40
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Re: CRUCIAL OMISSION IN DIMIA'S EVIDENCE
TO THE CMI COMMITTEE CONCERNING SIEVX
Dear Minister,
I wish to draw your attention to what appears to be deliberate
withholding and misrepresentation of information by your department in
order to suppress public acknowledgement of the Australian
Government's contribution to the deaths of 353 people.
Recent research has brought to light the fact that in March 2001, just
seven months before the SIEVX disaster, Abu Quassey, the notorious
people-smuggler who organised the fatal SIEVX voyage, sent 22 asylum
seekers to Christmas Island aboard an unseaworthy vessel that broke
down and drifted for a week before being rescued.
This boat - codenamed 'Gelantipy' by your Department - was one of the
few Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels (SIEVs) to be the subject of an
AusSAR alert. So there can be little doubt that prior to the SIEVX
tragedy, the Intelligence Analysis Section of the Border Protection
Branch of your department was well aware of Abu Quassey's role as the
organiser of a life-threatening voyage requiring rescue by Australian
authorities.[1]
Yet when DIMIA Deputy Secretary, Edward Killesteyn and Acting Deputy
Secretary Nellie Siegmund were questioned at the CMI Committee on 11
July 2002 regarding the reference in the People Smuggling Taskforce
(PST) Minutes of 18 October 2001 to 'some risk of vessels in poor
condition and rescue at sea' they claimed that this reference was in
no way connected to Abu Quassey's vessel (SIEVX) and that it in fact
referred solely to the boat of another people smuggler.(see CMI
2014-2016)[2]
The CMI Committee was reassured by DIMIA's evidence and cited it in
the CMI Report as proof that the PST minute of 18 October did not
refer to SIEVX:
'Contrary to some of the speculation based on the PST notes, the
mention of "some risk of vessels in poor condition and rescue at sea"
did not relate to SIEV X but, rather, the condition of the other
organiser’s vessels. Ms Siegmund mentioned that that particular
organiser "had previously used boats in poor condition".' (CMI Report
para 8.51 - see also paras 8.45, 8.46, 9.108 and 9.119)
If the Committee had been made aware that a previous Abu Quassey
vessel had required rescue only months before SIEVX sailed it is
highly unlikely that they would have reached this conclusion. I
believe they would have probed further about Australia's feeble
response to SIEVX's failure to arrive.
I would like to know why was there no mention in any of the October
2001 DIMA Intelligence notes of the fact that Abu Quassey had
organised a vessel that required rescue at sea by Australian
authorities. It seems very strange that this observation should be
made about the organiser of another vessel and not about Quassey,
given that he had sent a boat to Christmas Island earlier in 2001 that
was the subject of an AMSA alert and a rescue.[3]
I would also like to know why this information was withheld from the
CMI Committee by your department?
I believe that throughout the life of the CMI Committee there was a
pattern of withholding evidence related to SIEVX that challenged the
government's position. We saw it last year when the infamous DFAT
cable of 23 October 2001 was finally submitted to the Senate seven
months after the CMI Committee initially requested it from the
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. This cable which
contradicted the Prime Minister's claims about where SIEVX sank was
notably absent in virtually all testimony to the Committee despite
having been distributed to 40 high-level recipients including the
Prime Minister.
Can you reassure me that this is not the case here?
Yours sincerely,
Marg Hutton
29 January 2004
copies to:
Senator Collins
Senator Cook
Senator Faulkner
Senator Kirk
Senator Bartlett
Senator Brown
NOTES
1. A few days after the sinking of SIEVX, journalist Don Greenlees
wrote an article about Abu Quassey for the Australian newspaper, which
included the information that Quassey had sent a boat (Gelantipy) to
Christmas Island in March 2001. Presumably Greenlees was briefed by
Australian authorities as this information was not then in the public
domain. It would appear that Greenlees' sources also withheld the
crucial information that Gelantipy required rescue, as he claimed that
the boat had 'made it to Christmas Island'. See
http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/20011026DonGreenlees.html
2. Mr Killesteyn informed the CMI Committee that the source of the
reference in the PST minute was the DIMA Intelligence note (DIN) of 18
October. However it appears that it was the DIN of 19 October rather
than 18 October which made reference to a 'vessel in very poor
condition' and the possibility of 'a rescue at sea'.
3. The DIN of 19 October makes the observation that Quassey's boats
'often take longer to complete the journey to Christmas Island...
possibly because of the departure point (south- west Java) and the
prevailing currents and the use of smaller boats.' Given that
Gelantipy was adrift for a week in the waters between Java and
Christmas Island and required emergency rescue in order to 'complete
the journey', this seems a particularly odd comment.
SOURCES
Boat requiring rescue:
http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/20010327AMSAMediaRelease.html
http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/20010328MeganSaunders.html
http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/20010328EllisonMediaRelease1.html
Boat codenamed 'Gelantipy':
http://sievx.com/articles/psdp/DIMIA74a_boatarrivals.pdf
'Gelantipy' organised by Quassey (QoN #55):
http://sievx.com/testimony/2003/20030109AFPQuestionsOnNotice.html
Mr Killesteyn & Ms Siegmund's testimony to CMI Committee:
http://sievx.com/testimony/individuals/DIMIA2.pdf
PST Minute of 18 October 2001:
http://sievx.com/images/PST/1018.gif
DIN of 18 October 2001
:
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_10.gif
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_11.gif
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_12.gif
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_13.gif
DIN of 19 October 2001:
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_14.gif
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_15.gif
http://sievx.com/images/CMI_Docs/DIMIA_16.gif
CMI Report chapters 8 & 9:
http://sievx.com/testimony/report/ch08.pdf
http://sievx.com/testimony/report/ch09.pdf
Silence re the DFAT cable of 23 October 2001
: http://sievx.com/articles/challenging/2003/COS.pdf
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