Growing evidence of secret taxpayer-funded boats for illegal foreign fishers

An Australian Border Force (ABF) vessel carrying four fishing boats docked in Broome in Western Australia's north this week, presenting fresh evidence of an ongoing Commonwealth program of buying fishing boats and supplying them to illegal foreign crews.

Multiple sources say the boats are given to illegal fishers and asylum seekers found in Australia's waters as a safe way to return home. Sources say they are also used for agency training in the north and surveillance.

More than 1,000 illegal foreign fishing boats have been intercepted in Western Australia's north since 2020, just under 300 of them were found last financial year.

Sources say ABF, which oversees the patrolling of Australia's northern waters, has purchased fishing boats from across Australia for the past two years via an