Tuesday, 19 March 2024  
How many of the 1500 asylum seeker lives lost at sea since 2001 could have been saved?
Zahra (6), Fatima (7) and Eman (9) - the daughters of Sondos Ismail and Ahmed Alzalimi -  three of the 146 children who lost their lives when the vessel that has become known as SIEVX foundered in international waters en route to Christmas Island on 19 October 2001.
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SIEVX Chronology
by Marg Hutton

(This page is regularly updated as more information becomes available. There is still much that is unknown about the SIEVX voyage, the rescue of survivors and their return to Jakarta.
The entries for 18-22 October are best viewed as a guide rather than as definitive information.

You will need to have a copy of the freeware Adobe PDF reader on your computer in order to access some of the Senate Inquiry testimony linked to on this page. Download a copy here)

18 October 2001
A small, unnamed 19.5 X 4 metre wooden fishing boat that would later be dubbed SIEVX (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X) departs Canti, a fishing village near South Lampung, with approximately 421 passengers. This dilapidated, unseaworthy boat would have been overcrowded with 150 aboard, let alone 400. (Later, survivors would report that many were forced aboard at gunpoint by Indonesian police who supervised the loading.) Some hours into the voyage the boat stops near an island in the Sunda Strait and 23 Mandaean passengers disembark into another boat, the Rukun Agung, due to fears that the horrendously overcrowded vessel will sink. The Rukun Agung breaks down and the captain Mr Udin contacts his employer, Mr Wedi for assistance. The Mandaeans are landed at Lempasing beach and later interviewed by Indonesian police before making their way back to Cisarua.

19 October 2001
3pm: The boat goes down in international waters, inside the Australian aerial border protection surveillance zone. An estimated 146 children, 142 women and 65 men perish.

20 October 2001
Although about 120 people initially survived the sinking, there are less than half this number left alive when an Indonesian fishing boat, the Indah Jaya Makmur, skippered by Captain Imam rescues the survivors who have spent up to 20 hours in the water. Captain Imam picks up 44 of the survivors at 07 40 00S / 105 09 00E, (about 51.5 nautical miles off the coast of West Java). (To get an idea of the scope of the disaster, see survivor's accounts) At some point, the survivors aboard the Indah Jaya Makmur are transferred en route to Jakarta to another Indonesian fishing vessel, the Arta Kencana 38 - skippered by Mr Madjid.

21 October 2001
Sometime before dawn, a 45th survivor is rescued by the Surya Terang which had been sent by the other boats to search for more survivors.

22 October 2001
Forty-four survivors arrive in Jakarta in the late afternoon but refuse to leave the vessel until UN officials arrive.

First international reports that the boat has sunk appear on CNN at 8.24pm EDT (add 14 hours for Australian Eastern Standard Time).

23 October 2001
First Australian news coverage of the sinking is heard on AM at 8am Australian Eastern Standard Time. (This is in fact several hours ahead of the CNN coverage).

Prime Minister John Howard states that the disaster has nothing to do with Australia because the boat sank in 'indonesian waters' (a line he continued to repeat throughout the 2001 federal election campaign)

27 October 2001
ADF Strategic Command Daily Situation Report notes that the 'SIEV loss off Java and Op Relex appears to have lead to a pause in recent high level of U[nauthorised]B[oat]A[rrival]s'.

4 November 2001
Abu Quassey, the head of the people-smuggling syndicate that organised the SIEVX voyage, is arrested in Bandung.

19 December 2001
Keysar Trad, Vice President of the Sydney Lebanese Muslims Association, issues an independent media release announcing the impending arrival in Australia of the first survivor of the tragedy in which he states:
'Three weeks ago, I heard very serious allegations made by survivors of the drowning tragedy, one spoke of two large ships, which he says came by the survivors after the capsize of the boat and did nothing to rescue them. If these allegations are proved to be true, they are of course extremely serious and I call on the Australian government to investigate them immediately.'

20 December 2001
Twelve year old Zaynab Alrimahi who lost her entire family in the disaster arrives in Australia.

21 December 2001
Vanessa Walker writes an article on the arrival of Zaynab Alrimahi in which she states:
'...survivors say two boats, which their rescuers told them were Australian border patrol vessels, shone floodlights on them but did not help.'

17 February 2002
The Channel 9 News and Current Affairs program, Sunday broadcasts a special feature on Kevin John Enniss by Ross Coulthart. (A second program by Coulthart on Enniss later in the year would later reveal that Enniss told Coulthart in the presence of another reporter, that he [Enniss] was involved in deliberately sinking boats packed with asylum seekers.)

18 February 2002
Tony Kevin writes to the Leaders of all the Opposition Parties requesting that:
'the Senate urgently investigate, in the context of its current enquiries into naval encounters with vessels carrying asylum-seekers, a survivor’s account that Australian naval patrol ships witnessed a sinking refugee vessel on 19 October 2001 in the Sunda Strait, but did not try to rescue survivors'

20 February 2002
Senate Select Committee inquiring into 'A Certain Maritime Incident' meets for the first time

4 March 2002
Tony Kevin presents his first submission to CMI Committee which includes the first public questions about Operation Relex and the boat that sank. (PDF link)

25 March 2002
The Senate Select Committee investigating 'A Certain Maritime Incident' begins its public hearings.

Tony Kevin publishes an article in the Canberra Times regarding his concerns about SIEVX. This article is the first time that the term 'SIEV-X' is used to describe the vessel.

4-5 April 2002
Maritime Commander, Rear Admiral Geoffrey Smith testifies to the CMI Committee that he knew nothing about SIEVX until the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra advised on October 22 that it was overdue and may have foundered. (CMI 447-592). (PDF link)

11 April 2002
Tony Kevin presents his second submission to CMI Committee in response to the evidence of the Maritime Commander. (PDF link)

16 April 2002
Maritime Commander, Rear Admiral Geoff Smith, writes a letter to the Canberra Times stating that 'the first that Navy knew that [SIEVX] had sailed was when advised through the search and rescue organisation in Canberra on October 22 that this vessel might have foundered in the vicinity of Sunda Strait'. It is this letter, that causes Rear Admiral Bonser to contact the Maritime Commander to inform him that there are 'inconsistencies' between them in regard to their knowledge of SIEVX (CMI 1645).

Jane Halton, Head of PM's People Smuggling Taskforce testifies to CMI Committee and refers obliquely to the controversy that is beginning to build around SIEVX: 'I have certainly read some things in the newspapers in the last little while about our state of knowledge of particular vessels which, I have to say to you, from where I sat, is absolutely not correct. ' (CMI 947) (PDF link)

1 May 2002
Tony Kevin testifies to the CMI Committee (CMI 1325-1358)

21 May 2002
The CMI Committee receives a letter from Rear Admiral Smith dated 17 May 2002 clarifying his earlier testimony. According to Rear Admiral Bonser's testimony (CMI 1645-1649) this letter is written as a result of Bonser informing Smith that 'there were some inconsistencies between his evidence and the flow of information as [he] knew it'. This letter is released by the Committee and then recalled (CMI 1631).

22 May 2002
Rear Admiral Bonser's testimony to the CMI Committee sharply contradicts that given by the Maritime Commander. This is a turning point in the Affair as it the first corrobative evidence that more was known about SIEVX than what we had previously been told. (CMI 1628-1703, see particularly 1644-1648) (A lightly edited version of Bonser's testimony was published in Margo Kingston's Web Diary.)

The SBS International Current Affairs program Dateline, airs its first special feature on the SIEVX Affair. This program broadcasts new evidence on the sinking - an official Indonesian document on BASARNAS letter-head obtained from the harbourmaster at Sunda Kelapa port in North Jakarta which details the coordinates where the SIEVX survivors were rescued.

4 June 2002
Rear Admiral Chris Ritchie, Commander Australian Theatre, testifies that Operation Relex maritime surveillance was not conducted close to Indonesia but closer to Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef (see FAD&T, p.231)

15 June 2002
Official minutes of the PM's People Smuggling Taskforce are leaked to the SMH and later published in Margo Kingston's web diary (and extracted from her diary here). The minutes include multiple references to SIEVX that further contradict testimony given to the CMI Committee by the Maritime Commander and indicate further questions need to be asked of witnesses such as Jane Halton. Highlights of the minutes include the fact that on 22 October - three days after the boat had sunk - the Taskforce referred to the vessel as 'SIEV8'. The entry for 23 October includes the line: 'Vessel likely to have been in international waters south of Java'. The complete minutes for the period 12 October to 25 October are available here.

17 June 2002
An editorial in the Canberra Times calls for a wide ranging judicial inquiry into the SIEVX Affair.

Greg Ansley publishes the first article about the SIEVX Affair to appear in a newspaper outside Australia

19 June 2002
Defence Secretary, Dr Allan Hawke answers questions concerning SIEVX at the National Press Club and refutes the claim that SIEVX was ever known as SIEV8. (edited transcript here ~ listen to edited audio)

20 June 2002
Prime Minister answers first questions concerning SIEVX (edited transcript here ~ listen to edited audio)

24 June 2002
Robert Manne's critical opinion piece appears in the Age and SMH

27 June 2002
Defence Minister Robert Hill releases the first details of Operation Relex surveillance that took place during the period 18-20 October 2001. Rather than providing this information to the Senate Inquiry, he chooses instead to release it selectively in a letter to the Editor. This information contradicts earlier evidence given by the Defence Force, including that given by Admiral Ritchie.

28 June 2002
Tony Kevin takes Minister Hill to task for releasing vital information in a Letter to the Editor rather than to the Senate Inquiry

29 June 2002
Leaked aerial surveillance maps of Operation Relex activities on 18-October 2001 appear in Weekend Australian. (The collection of twelve maps is later published in Margo Kingston's web diary (1 July) and the associated briefing paper prepared by Matt Brown from Minister Hill's Office appears a few days later - extracted here).

30 June 2002
Prime Minister leaves for Europe, still refusing to answer questions concerning the source for his repeated claims during October 2001 that SIEVX sank in 'indonesian waters'.

3 July 2002
Editorial in the Australian calls for 'a definitive explanation' of why the Government backtracked on its original claims about SIEVX.

Outgoing Australian Defence Forces chief, Rear-Admiral Chris Barrie uses the occasion of his official farewell function to speak about SIEVX (extracted here).

4 July 2002
Defence review of Intelligence pertaining to SIEVX (sometimes referred to as 'The Gates Review') is received by the CMI Committee

11 July 2002
CMI Committee reconvenes for the second time since Bonser testified. The focus of the Inquiry is overwhelmingly concerned with SIEVX. Witnesses are:

  • Mr Clive Davidson, CEO, Australian Maritime Safety Authority
  • Colonel Patrick Gallagher, Commanding Officer Australian Theatre Joint Intelligence Centre
  • Mr Mick Keelty Commissioner, Australian Federal Police
  • Mr Brendan McDevitt, Federal Agent
  • Mr Michael Chilcott, Counsel
  • Edward Killesteyn, Acting Secretary DIMIA
  • Vince McMahon, Acting Deputy Secretary DIMIA
  • Nelly Siegmund, Assistant Secretary, Border Protection Branch DIMIA

17 July 2002
Dateline, broadcasts its second feature on the SIEVX Affair

20 July 2002
Rear Admiral Raydon Gates is appointed Maritime Commander Australia. (Source: 'Host for the Commisssioning of HMAS Parramatta', date unknown)

30 July 2002
After sitting for 15 days over a period of four months and hearing the testimony of more than fifty witnesses the CMI Committee abruptly concludes hearing evidence despite the fact that many key staffers are prohibited from appearing by the government and much of the Defence testimony remains untested. The final witnesses are Ms Jane Halton & Air Commodore Philip Byrne. Critics and commentators such as Margo Kingston are furious that Labor has seemingly capitulated to the Government's relentless and continued obstruction of the Inquiry.

2 August 2002
With the Committee hearings apparently over, Rear Admiral Raydon Gates - the man whom Minister Hill 8 times refused to allow to testify at the Inquiry - chooses this time to break his silence and speak to the media about SIEVX saying that he believed the navy was justified in actively not searching for SIEVX and that in his opinion there was no need for him to appear before the Inquiry as his information about the boat was 'second or third hand'.

3 August 2002
It is reported on AM that the Senate Committee is considering issuing a subpoena to Rear Admiral Gates compelling him to give evidence. At this stage it is not clear whether or not the Committee intends to continue hearing evidence.

20 August 2002
The date for the Select Committee to table its report is extended to 25 September.

1 September 2002
The Channel 9 News and Current Affairs program, Sunday broadcasts a special feature on People Smuggling and the AFP, by Ross Coulthart which includes reports that an AFP informant, Kevin John Enniss, 'had paid Indonesian locals on four or five occasions to scuttle people-smuggling boats with passengers on them.'

2 September 2002
Jannah the SIEVX Memorial is launched on SIEVX.com. The memorial is an online condolence book created by Mary Dagmar Davies, dedicated to compassion and remembrance. (In January 2003 the memorial moved to the website of the Refugee Action Committee in Canberra and on 24 January 2004 moved to its own domain - sievmemorial.org)

5 September 2002
South Jakarta District Court sentences Mootaz Attia Mohammad Hasan (aka Abu Quassey) to 6 months jail for immigration offences.

19 September 2002
A declassified DIMIA Intelligence Note released to the Senate Committee states that SIEVX sank 'approximately 60nm south of the Sunda Strait' contradicting previous Government claims that the sinking site of the vessel was unknown. (See DIMIA Intelligence Note 83/2001 dated 23 October 2001 at 1400 hours - p1, p2)

23 September 2002
The date for the Select Committee to table its report is once again extended. The report is now due to be tabled on 23 October.

25 September 2002
Senator John Faulkner delivers the last of three speeches to the Senate on the People Smuggling Disruption Program in Indonesia. In the concluding section of this speech, Faulkner asks if there is a link between the disruption program and the sinking of SIEVX in October last year and goes on to raise the spine-chilling possibility that the disruption program in Indonesia may have been used as a 'licence to kill'.

26 September 2002
Senator Faulkner mounts a fierce attack on the credibility of the Government's position during Question Time. The brunt of the attack is borne by Australian Justice Minister, Senator Chris Ellison. Senator Robert Hill, representing the Foreign Minister, is also involved. The three Liberal Senators on the 'children overboard' Committee, Brandis, Mason and Ferguson, leap to the Government's defence and launch personal attacks on Tony Kevin.

23 October 2002
The CMI Committee Report is tabled - a year to the day that the tragedy became world news. Chapters 8 and 9 deal specifically with SIEVX. Also relevant to SIEVX are chapters 1 and 2; the Chair's Foreword, additional comments by Senators Faulkner, Collins and the Australian Democrats. The extract from the Senate Hansard of the tabling of the Committee Report is recommended reading.

20 November 2002
Nearly a month after the tabling of the CMI Committee Report, Labor Senators Faulkner and Collins return to the SIEVX Affair when they question AFP Commissioner Keelty in Senate Legal and Constitutional Estimates Committee. Questions include whether or not tracking devices were fitted to SIEVs as part of the people smuggling disruption program in Indonesia, as well as requests for further information on the possibility of prosecuting Abu Quassey, the alleged organiser of the SIEVX voyage.

21 November 2002
AFP Commissioner Keelty writes to the L&C Estimates Committee seeking 'public-interest immunity' from answering the questions put to him by Senator Faulkner on 20 November regarding tracking-devices.

4 December 2002
The Leader of the Deomocrats, Senator Bartlett, asks a series of questions of Justice Minister, Senator Ellison regarding Australia's intentions with regard to bringing to justice one of the self-admitted organisers of the SIEVX voyage, Abu Quassey.

9-11 December 2002
In the final session of Parliament for 2002, the Opposition parties in the Senate pass two strong majority motions concerning SIEVX - the first calling for a full judicial inquiry into the People Smuggling Disruption Program in Indonesia and SIEVX, and the second calling for the Australian and Indonesian Governments to do all in their power to ensure that Abu Quassey is brought to justice for his involvement with the 353 deaths on SIEVX and other people smuggling offences.

12 December 2002
Justice Minister Chris Ellison responds to Senator Andrew Bartlett's Questions on Notice of 4 December regarding investigations into the possibility of prosecuting Abu Quassey. Ellison implies that because it was not known where SIEVX sank, Quassey could not be tried for homicide in relation to the SIEVX deaths in either Indonesia or Australia.

1 January 2003
Abu Quassey is released from Cipinang prison in Jakarta after serving a short sentence for passport related offences. He is detained by Indonesian Immigration and it is announced that he will shortly be deported to his native Egypt.

1 February 2003
Articles in the SMH & Age by Jakarta correspondent Matthew Moore claim that the Indonesian Justice Minister believes that Australia has not seriously attempted to bring Abu Quassey to Australia because there are 'major questions about the [SIEVX] disaster it may not want answered'.

4 February 2003
Crucial new evidence - the DFAT cable of 23 October 2001 is finally released, many months after being initially requested by the CMI Committee. This cable is so significant that the former Chair of the CMI Committee speaks out about it in the Senate.

10 February 2003
In Senate Estimates hearings, Senators Faulkner, Ray and Collins question PM&C and the AFP about matters including the DFAT cable and Abu Quassey.

13 February 2003
Senators Collins and Faulkner question DFAT in Senate Estimates regarding the cable of 23 October 2001.

10 March 2003
David Marr & Marian Wilkinson's Dark Victory, is published - the first to include a chapter on the SIEVX story.

26 March 2003
Tony Kevin, is named 'International Whistleblower of the Year' by the UK based magazine Index on Censorship for his work bringing the SIEVX Affair to public attention.

24 April 2003
Abu Quassey is released from Immigration Detention in Indonesia and deported to Egypt. (Source: Senate Estimates L&C, 26 May)

21 May 2003
The long overdue 'state of play' brief sent to the Prime Minister on 24 October 2001 by his Department is finally released to the Senate in Answers to Questions on Notice to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee. Strangely this document was received by the Senate a day after sievx.com published SIEVX & the DFAT Cable: The Conspiracy of Silence - an indepth research paper on the coverup of official knowledge about the sinking position.

22 May 2003
One of Quassey's alleged accomplices in the fatal SIEVX voyage, Khaleed Daoed, is arrested in Sweden following a request from Australian authorities.

17 July 2003
New maps evidence challenging the RAAF surveillance maps (presented to the Senate as part of the Gates Review of Intelligence pertaining to SIEVX) is published in the Canberra Times.

23 July 2003
Nearly a year after delivering a series of three powerful short adjournment speeches to the Senate on the people smuggling disruption program and its possible relationship to the sinking of SIEVX, Senator John Faulkner returned to the issue when he addressed a meeting of the Australian Fabian society in Melbourne.

6 September 2003
Mootaz Attia Mohamad Hasan (aka Abu Quassey) appears for the first time at a court hearing in Egypt to determine whether or not he should be tried for the manslaughter of the 353 SIEVX victims.

13 September 2003
Quassey appears in court in Egypt for the second time. Hearing is postponed until 27 September.

9 October 2003
A court in Sweden decides to extradite Iraqi Khaleed Shnayf Daoed to Australia.

15 October 2003
A third SIEVX-related motion is passed by the Senate - noting the failure of the Government to respond to the two Senate motions of December 2002 [1, 2], and the 'ineffectual pursuit' of Abu Quassey; and calling on the Australian Federal Police to release the list of the SIEVX dead, information that has been concealed from the public for nearly two years.
Importantly, this motion also makes it clear that the Senate is no longer uncertain as to the location where SIEVX sank (unlike the CMI Report - para 8.5) and is now firmly of the view that SIEVX sank inside Australia's border protection surveillance zone. (Note: Although the reference to the location where SIEVX sank was included in the notice of motion that appeared in the temporary Hansard, it did not appear in the permanent Hansard - see p. 16539.)

16 October 2003
A fourth SIEVX-related motion is passed by the Senate, renewing the call for a full powers independent judicial inquiry into the People Smuggling Disruption Program in Indonesia and SIEVX, requesting that the Minister for Immigration grant permanent residency to TPV holders who lost family members on SIEVX and 'expressing regret and sympathy at the tragic loss of so many innocent lives'.

Senator Bob Brown and writer Steve Biddulph launch the SIEVX Memorial Project at a press conference at Parliament House.

7 November 2003
Khaleed Daoed extradited to Australia from Sweden.

5 November 2003
The Maritime Commander Rear Admiral Raydon Gates fails to appear at Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence & Trade Legislation Committee. When Senator Collins asks the Defence Minister why the Admiral has not appeared to answer questions about the Defence review of Intelligence that Gates conducted regarding SIEVX she is told 'I thought that his seniors, such as Admiral Ritchie and Admiral Shalders, could better answer the question.'

8 December 2003
Khaleed Daoed's case adjourned until 5 April 2004.

27 December 2003
Mootaz Attia Mohamed Hasan, also known as Abu Quassey, is sentenced by an Egyptian court to five years in jail for homicide through negligence for his part in the SIEVX deaths and another two years for aiding illegal migration. The defence intends to appeal the verdict.

23 March 2004
Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer launch an attack on Senator John Faulkner for what they claim to be Labor's hypocritical support of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty in the wake of Keelty's public comments on the increased Al Qaeda threat to Australian security. During this assault, Howard quotes from Faulkner's ground-breaking 'Licence To Kill' speech to the Senate in September 2002. It is ironic that this is the first time that Howard has ever publicly referred to the call by Senator Faulkner for a full powers judicial inquiry into the people smuggling disruption program in Indonesia and the sinking of SIEVX, a call which was subsequently backed up by a recommendation of the CMI Report [p.xx] and two Senate motions [1, 2].

5 - 7 April 2004
Khaleed Shnayf Daoed appears in Brisbane court for a three day committal hearing. The hearing is adjourned until 21 July with more than 20 witnesses still to give evidence.

17 June 2004
Navy News announces the appointment of Rear Admiral Raydon Gates as Head of Defence Staff in the Australian Embassy in Washington.

28 June 2004
Rear Admiral Rowan Moffitt assumes duties as Maritime Commander.

22 June 2004
The Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Andrew Bartlett moves a fifth SIEVX related Senate motion calling for the government to act on 'the order of the Senate of 16 October 2003 calling for the establishment of a judicial inquiry into all aspects of the People Smuggling Disruption Program operated by the Commonwealth Government and agencies and, in particular, issues surrounding the sinking of the boat known as the SIEV X, with the loss of 353 lives.'

28 July 2004
Khaleed Shnayf Daoed ordered to stand trial in Brisbane's Supreme Court on 10 counts of people smuggling after facing a preliminary hearing on the charges.

2 August 2004
Tony Kevin's A Certain Maritime Incident: The Sinking of SIEV X, is published - the first book on the SIEVX Affair.

24 November 2004
The Court of Appeal in Cairo upholds Abu Quassey's conviction, but reduces his sentence for aiding illegal migration from two years to just three months, effectively reducing his overall sentence by 25 per cent.

17 May 2005
Trial of Khaleed Daoed scheduled to begin in Brisbane Supreme Court.

8 June 2005
Khaleed Daoed convicted of people smuggling.  

30 June 2005
Labor Senators Jacinta Collins & Peter Cook who both served on the CMI Committee leave the Senate.

1 July 2005
Coalition gains control of the Senate from this date.

14 July 2005
Khaleed Daoed sentenced to 9 years jail with four and a half years minimum parole period.

3 December 2005
Former Labor Senator and Chair of the CMI Committee, Peter Cook dies in Perth at the age of sixty-two.

15 October 2006
Nearly 300 poles representing those who lost their lives on SIEVX were lifted up by 600 volunteers in Weston Park, Canberra to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the sinking. This event was organised by the SIEVX Memorial Committee who are intending to build a permanent memorial to this tragedy.

18 October 2006
A resolution moved by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert for the lists held by the AFP of SIEVX passengers to be tabled is defeated in the Senate.

19 October 2006
On the fifth anniversary of the sinking, the SIEV X Secondary Schools Case Study Committee launches 'The Sinking of SIEV X', a reader for history students.
A motion moved by the Democrats and Greens calling on the National Capital Authority to give permission for the SIEV X Memorial project to be established as a permanent memorial is defeated in the Senate by 31 votes to 28.

6 March 2007
Senator Chris Ellison appointed as the new Human Services Minister replacing Ian Campbell who resigned on 3 March. West Australian Senator David Johnston is to be appointed as the new Minister for Justice and Customs.

24 November 2007
The Howard government is emphatically defeated in the 2007 Federal election. Labor returns to power after eleven and a half years in Opposition.

15 October 2008
Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young moves a motion calling for Labor to make good on its commitment to establish a full powers judicial inquiry into the People Smuggling disruption program and SIEVX. The resolution is voted down by 40 votes to 6.

2 September 2009
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty retires.

7 September 2009
Tony Negus, APM, is sworn is as Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.

7 April 2011
Indonesia passes laws criminalising people smuggling.

28 July 2011
Maythem Kamil Radhi, one of the alleged people smugglers involved in organising the SIEVX voyage is arrested in New Zealand and it is reported that he is fighting extradition to Australia.

12 October 2011
Greens Senators, Christine Milne and Sarah Hanson-Young move a motion calling for a Judicial Inquiry into SIEVX which is voted down by 36 votes to 10.

19 March 2012
A New Zealand judge rules that Maythem Kamil Radhi can be extradited to Australia to stand trial on people smuggling charges in regard to his alleged role in the SIEVX voyage.

 

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