Illegal immigrants who arrived by boat have sent $5MILLION in welfare payments back home to their families – as Peter Dutton vows to stop them ‘duping’ Australian taxpayers
- 8000 asylum seekers are being investigated for sending funds home to families
- Refugees are cheating the scheme intended for the most vulnerable migrants
- One case involves a refugee claiming to be stateless wiring $450,000 overseas
- Home affairs minister Peter Dutton said he was intent on fighting system rorters
Thousands of illegal immigrants who arrived in Australia by boat have sent $5million in welfare payments designed for the most vulnerable migrants back home to their families.
About 8,000 asylum seekers are currently being investigated by authorities for lying about their financial situation in order to receive the payments.
Of those, 44 cases have been earmarked by national security agencies because of the size of the overseas transfer – including one refugee who claimed to be stateless and sent more than $450,000 to Ghana and Bangladesh.
Thousands of illegal immigrants who arrived in Australia by boat have sent $5million in welfare payments designed for the most vulnerable migrants back home to their families. Pictured: Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia in 2013
Another case reported by The Daily Telegraph involved an illegal boat arrival who transferred nearly $220,000 to Iraq and Switzerland.
The funds intended to assist the most desperate asylum seekers have cost Australian taxpayers in excess of $1.5 billion in the last five years.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the government is intent on preventing the illegal immigrants rorting the system getting away with it.
He said: ‘These people came to Australia illegally by boat, claim to be penniless, take taxpayers hard-earned dollars in welfare and then inexplicably have access to large amounts of money that they transfer around the world.’
The government is now in the process of removing asylum seekers caught moving around significant amounts of money from the funding scheme.
Labor, meanwhile, is set to announce its policy of giving permanent protection to asylum seekers and getting rid of their temporary visas at its national conference on Sunday.
Home affairs minister Peter Dutton said the government is intent on preventing the illegal immigrants rorting the system from getting away with it
Last week, it also emerged opposition leader Bill Shorten had pushed for asylum decisions to not include considerations of the applicant’s character.
The government and the opposition are due to clash on what has been dubbed the ‘medivac bill’ when it passes through the lower house in February.
In response, Mr Dutton said: ‘Under Labor’s law, a person who has been convicted of serious offences would have to come to Australia and there is nothing the minister could do to stop it.’
Labor is set to announce its policy of giving permanent protection to asylum seekers and getting rid of their temporary visas at its national conference on Sunday (file photo, men shave, brush their teeth and prepare for the day at a refugee camp on the Island of Nauru)