Australia’s Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has warned people-smugglers and would-be boatpeople against exploiting a High Court injunction halting the transfer of asylum-seekers to Malaysia.

Bowen today reaffirmed his confidence in the legality of the Malaysian deal, as the government pushes for a swift resolution to a legal challenge against the policy.

He warned that a two-week injunction against asylum-seeker expulsions to Malaysia, granted yesterday, was not the court’s final word on the policy.

“People-smugglers and asylum-seekers should be clear that this is an interim injunction. It is not a result of a court case,” he told ABC radio.

“Anybody contemplating coming to Australia on the basis of this injunction should not.”

Justice Kenneth Hayne yesterday put the government’s Malaysian solution on hold when he extended an injunction preventing the deportation of asylum-seekers until their case is heard before the full bench of the High Court on Aug 22.

Move to fast-track the matter

Bowen said the government was trying to convince the High Court to fast-track the matter so it would be dealt with before Aug 22.

The government says the immigration minister has the ability to use a section of the Migration Act to “declare” or identify a third country to which asylum-seekers can be sent.

Bowen told ABC Radio: “We had legal advice all the way through that this was legal. The Act is clear that a third country can be declared.”

As the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors who arrive in Australia, Bowen said he was also confident the protections in the Malaysian agreement were adequate.

He warned it was not a sustainable outcome to extend an “automatic right of stay in Australia” to unaccompanied minors who arrived by boat.

“What is important is that we have all the appropriate care and protection in place as we deal with the complex issue of unaccompanied minors,” he said.

Under the Malaysian solution, Australia will send 800 asylum-seekers to Malaysia in return for accepting 4,000 genuine refugees.

Despite yesterday’s injunction, Australia will accept the first of the 4,000 Malaysian refugees later this week.

During yesterday’s hearing, Justice Hayne expressed his frustration at the Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler SC, representing Bowen, saying his efforts in court were highly “unsatisfactory” and “half baked”.

- Bernama