Long form article in the SMH covering issues with the Cape class and discussion about recent people smuggling efforts. Behind a paywall so some excerpts below :
"Insiders claim Australian Border Force’s $50 million Cape-class boats are beset with dangerous issues. An investigation has revealed one was out of action at the same time as a people-smuggling vessel landed in Western Australia."
"As dozens of thirsty and exhausted asylum seekers wandered the ochre-red dirt tracks criss-crossing Dampier Peninsula’s remote bushland in February, the crew of the $50 million patrol boat meant to stop them from reaching Australia’s mainland were dealing with the fallout of their own crisis.
A fire and communication systems failure had crippled the Australian Border Force’s boat, Cape York, as it patrolled off the scrubby Kimberley coastline where the 39 men were now lost.
The blaze was caused by a leaking hose that had sprayed oil into the Cape York’s engine room just as an Indonesian fishing boat-turned-people-smuggling vessel had tracked towards a strip of sand about 150 kilometres from Broome."
""Had there not been a fire, the asylum seekers would have been located,” a former Border Force Cape-class crew member told this masthead, speaking anonymously because it is an offence under Operation Sovereign Borders secrecy laws to speak to the media.
The Cape York’s problems were uncovered in an investigation by this masthead and
60 Minutes alongside claims from multiple Border Force insiders of much bigger problems dogging the entire Cape-class fleet involving multiple known – but unresolved – defects.
They claim the problems badly undermine the eight-strong fleet’s mission to confront illegal fishing and people-smuggling in Australian waters.
Along with major fire risks, communications and vital oil leak alarm systems regularly fail to work properly."
