Boat arrivals taken to Nauru after reaching mainland

A group of suspected Chinese boat arrivals have been taken to Nauru’s detention centre for processing after they reached the mainland, generating fresh controversy for the Albanese government on border protection.

The 15 people arrived off a remote part of the Kimberley coastline and walked into the Truscott air force base on Friday. Western Australian Police are searching for a missing person who became separated from the group.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said while Australia had a very large coastline, “what is clear though is people who are unauthorised arrivals won’t be settled in Australia.

“There is no change to Operation Sovereign Borders. It is important that that message be sent and once agan through the response of the Australian government, that message will be sent very clearly again to the region,” he said.

The boat is the third to reach the mainland in the past five months, with people smugglers appearing to change their tactics and use high-speed boats to evade detection and deliver groups direct to the mainland, rather than being intercepted and turned around at sea.