More than 20 men claiming to be from Pakistan and Bangladesh have arrived at a remote Indigenous community in Western Australia, saying they came by boat from Indonesia. The men were taken away by Australian Boarder Force officers, as the Albanese government says it remains committed to refusing to resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat to Australia.
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00:00 Sheltering from the wet season heat at the end of a long journey.
00:06 The men say it took five days on a boat from Indonesia to arrive in Australia
00:10 and they then had to walk 35 kilometres from an isolated beach.
00:14 Before 21 of them were discovered by a local family and brought to the Beagle Bay community,
00:19 about 130 kilometres north of Broome.
00:22 We don't have the water and we face many difficulties.
00:26 I feel like some people are dying.
00:33 Mohamed claims he previously came to Australia several years ago
00:37 but was deported back to Pakistan where he was kidnapped and tortured.
00:40 I don't want to go back to Pakistan.
00:42 They are treating us like human beings in our country.
00:49 Australian Border Force has been contacted as part of efforts to verify his claims.
00:54 As the ABC filmed, another local family then pulled up after discovering more men nearby.
01:00 They found three young fellas.
01:03 I didn't have a clue where they were or what they were doing or what's going on.
01:08 So we just took them home and gave them a feed and water and a shower.
01:14 It is not known how many other people may also have arrived and not been detected.
01:20 It's a pretty surreal scene here at the Beagle Bay community at the moment.
01:24 Out here in the park the men are sitting, they have water,
01:27 sitting out in the open while police supervise them.
01:30 Australian Border Force officers later took the men away to be questioned.
01:34 The Prime Minister indicated asylum seekers who arrived by boat would not be allowed to settle in Australia.
01:40 Our policies are clear which is that.
01:43 Boats that arrive in that fashion, we have policies in place to ensure that they're dealt with.
01:49 The opposition accused the government of losing control of the borders.
01:53 Clearly there's been a catastrophic failure in the system here because this boat has arrived undetected.
01:58 The major concern locally, that the men are safe and healthy.
02:03 Main thing, their welfare and that they're safe and healthy and happy here.
02:07 A memorable day on one of the most remote sections of coastline in Australia.
02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]