Australia's shame: The Sinking of the SIEV-X

353 men, women and children died while racist Australian government, in election mode, did nothing


2001 Australia's shame: The Sinking of the SIEV-X

From Wikipedia: SIEV-X stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (the X means “unknown”). It is the name, coined by Tony Kevin, commonly used to refer to a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat that was en-route to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers. It sank in October 2001, killing 353 people, mostly women and children. The tragedy was politically controversial in Australia, as it occurred during an election campaign at a time when asylum seekers and border protection were major issues.

The SIEV-X incident occurred during the 2001 Australian Federal election campaign. The Tampa affair had focused national attention on the issue of border protection and boat people. Prime Minister John Howard had made plain his policy of preventing asylum seeker boats from landing in Australia, and ideally preventing them from leaving Indonesia ... Read on

"Half a decade after the sinking of SIEVX, the Australian Government still refuses to release the names of the victims and continues to spread propaganda about the tragedy including halving the number of children who died in the sinking. Yesterday the Government-dominated Senate defeated a motion from the Greens demanding that the Government table the lists of SIEVX names that it holds ..."
SIEVX.com


tonykevin.com :: SIEVX Memorial :: Children overboard affair

Wilson's Blogmanac is dedicated to the victims of SIEV-X.

Tagged: siev-x, sievx, refugees, australia, john+howard, racism