Dimensions
155 x 234 x 25mm
In October 2001, over 400 asylum-seekers departed from Indonesia in a grossly overcrowded, rickety boat bound for Australia. Somewhere between the two countries the boat sank, with a huge loss of life - 353 of the asylum seekers drowned. Overnight, a very important set of questions arose:
What did the Australian government and its agencies know about the boat and its fate - and when? Did Australia have any responsibility for the tragedy? Did it have a duty of care that it shirked?
At the time, government ministers and senior officials played fast and loose with the facts, and since then they have consistently misled the Australian Senate about the information in their possession.
The SIEV X affair has sparked a struggle in Australia between a national security system that has closed ranks and a few courageous individuals who are determined to get at the truth - among whom the most notable is the author of this book, Tony Kevin.
The victims of the disaster were mostly women and children, and many of their male family members are living in the Australian community on temporary protection visas. There may be hundreds of them. This book is for the grieving kin. It is also for the rest of us, because nothing less than a full-powered inquiry into the sinking of SIEV X will suffice if Australia is to regain its national honour.
