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558 Malaysians Barred From Entering Australia In 2004-2005
Published on: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 04:03:56 GMT
A total of 558 Malaysians were among 1,632 people refused entry at Australian airports during a national security blitz last financial year, ending in June last year. This was a 30 per cent increase in the number of Malaysians barred from entering the country, according to Immigration Department figures. People who arrived holding bogus or no travel documents, as well as would-be illegal workers, were turned away as entries in and out of Australia by air reached 55,000 a day.
Movements at the border -- which last financial year reached 20 million -- had jumped 22 percent since 2003, the figures showed.
Border guards were turning away 32 per cent more arrivals than in 2003-04, according to an immigration snapshot in the Managing the Border publication.
Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone said that there was an expanding database of people barred from Australia on national security grounds.
There were two million "possible" matches on the department's Person Alert List in 2004-05.
The list of those banned from visiting or migrating to Australia because of their security or criminal profile grew 25 per cent to 400,000 for the financial year.
In addition, the latest visa processing system allowing all types of passengers, including those in transit, to be screened was launched in cooperation with all the 46 airlines that fly into Australia.
Senator Vanstone said the 2004-05 year had seen an "increasing demand on Australia's border".
"We are putting a greater focus on the development of strategies to assist in the control of people and organisations intent on breaching migration laws," she said.
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