SYDNEY: Australia on Friday denied rolling out the "red carpet" for asylum-seekers, saying the televisions, DVD players and microwaves installed in their temporary homes were "basic household goods".
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said boatpeople were not given packages worth thousands of dollars for free once they arrived in Australia, as claimed by Sydney's Daily Telegraph.
Rather, they were merely allowed to live in homes equipped for families once they were released from detention and until they were processed as refugees.
"They receive basic household goods," he told ABC radio. "Obviously houses have ovens and fridges and a television. If there's a baby involved we provide a basic pack of baby material: blankets, a pram or what-have-you.
"But the key thing here is that that material stays in the house for the next family; it's not a handout." Asylum-seekers arriving by boat are a contentious issue in Australia, where many consider those who bypass official refugee channels to make the dangerous boat journey to Australia as "queue jumpers".
As the high cost of living and relatively high interest rates bite into family budgets, the tabloid Daily Telegraph Friday said the Aus$10,000 (US$10,754) spent furnishing an asylum-seeker home was a "boatload of goodies".
Conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has campaigned in the past on "stopping the boats", said asylum-seekers should be held in detention until they had been processed as genuine refugees.
"The message is going out loud and clear to the people-smugglers and their clients and potential customers the red carpet is being rolled out, there is a welcome mat waiting for you here in Australia," Abbott told the Nine Network.
Bowen denied that the government was rolling out the red carpet, but said the government was committed to moving the majority of families and children out of detention and into the community while they wait for visas.
Australia had a duty of care to provide basic items such as cleaning supplies, furniture and bedding, and baby items such as prams for vulnerable asylum-seekers in community detention who were not allowed to work, he said.
"What we don't do drop people off at Central Station and say, 'There you go, you're on your own'," Bowen said.
Australia has been forced to process asylum-seekers onshore after its bid to send up to 800 boatpeople to Malaysia, and hopefully deter future arrivals, was blocked by the High Court.
Bowen said there was a lull in arrivals in January but he expected this to change, with two suspected asylum-seeker boats carrying more than 130 people arriving Friday.
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