Aussie asylum seekers 'not moving'

Reuters

NOT MOVING: Australian Customs officials stand with Sri Lankan refugees on the customs vessel Oceanic Viking.

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Australian opposition lawmakers have questioned why the 78 asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking haven't had their cases assessed on the ship.

The government has made a new offer to the group as a way of the ending the stalemate, promising to accept genuine refugees to Australia within a month.

They would have their claims assessed in Indonesia.

But the Sri Lankans are still refusing to disembark, having reportedly rejected the proposal through a hand-written note thrown from the boat.

The now-dismissed plan revealed the government's ineffective case-by-case attitude to dealing with asylum seekers, opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone told Fairfax Radio Network.

"Mr Rudd is making us, I think, a bit of a laughing stock in the region," she said.

There was no reason why the asylum seeker group could not be processed on board as a way of ending the stand-off.

"There comes a point in time when you can, very humanely, bring (the UN's refugee agency) UNHCR onboard, for heaven's sake.

"Let them assess on board whether the people are legitimate or not."

According to media reports, 30 of the 78 people are believed to have already been deemed refugees by the UNHCR.

But even if it were true, Dr Stone said that did not mean those people had a right to come directly to Australia.