Sri Lankan sailors assist a Myanmar national on a stretcher off a navy ship at the southern port of Galle, following a rescue at sea. AFP PHOTO/SRI LANKAN NAVY Source: AFP
NEW Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor says he has no short-term way to stop asylum boats, as he digests the first horrifying loss of life since he took the role this month.
He said the 98 Australia-bound asylum seekers thrown overboard by shipmates as they died one by one after weeks without food off Sri Lanka were likely not the only victims.
The Sri Lankan navy released shocking photographs of some of the 32 emaciated survivors who ran out of food 21 days ago and who had been at sea for two months.
"People floating around, people emaciated and 100 people sounds like might have perished. It just has to end," Mr O'Connor said.
"It was nowhere near (Australia), I am advised it was on its way here.
"A lot of people are just disappearing, out of sight out of mind. Boats disappearing. It is very hard to put a number on it. Too many."
Mr O'Connor said stopping boats would not be done quickly and that the government would continue to work through Houston panel recommendations.
Labor has seen more than 33,000 people arrive since its election in November 2007 when it dismantled Howard government measures, which Mr O'Connor said would fail today.
He said boat arrivals were a "constant pressure" for successive governments.
"This cannot be done overnight, it can only be done over time," he said.
"Anyone who says they can stop the boats will have to eat a lot of words if they're ever put into a position to have to do this."
He blames a lack of cooperation from the Coalition, but is yet to make contact with Opposition counterpart Scott Morrison.
Mr O'Connor is also yet to speak with counterparts in Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka but plans to and is focusing on building permanent camps in Nauru and PNG.
A migrant himself, Mr O'Connor's first memory of life in Australia was in a Nissen hut in a migrant hostel with his Irish parents and siblings.
His parents migrated to Australia in the late 1960s to fill a labour shortage and Mr O'Connor said it was not "right" or "safe" for people to come by boat.
"If I can do anything to reduce that, I will," he said.
Mr O'Connor rushed from East Timor to Christmas Island on the day of the 2010 boat crash and comforted rescuers as they described seeing doomed women clinging to their babies rather than taking ropes to save themselves.
"I saw things I wouldn't want to see again," he said.
"If anyone tells me it is just a line that you don't want to endanger people's lives, it's not just a line."
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