Department of Immigration and Citizenship acting regional manager Steven Karras said 81 Iranians who arrived on the first boat subject to the new rules were told of their fate today.
He said a number of the asylum-seekers declared if they had known the rules were about to change, they would not have made the trip.
“It was apparent to me that they did understand what this message meant,” Mr Karras said in a statement accompanied by photos of the group, with faces pixilated.
“I'm sure they're now thinking about whether it was wise to come in the first place.”
Immigration officials stepped up the campaign to enforce Labor's new “hardline” message as Kevin Rudd accused Tony Abbott of undermining the national interest in his attacks on the PNG solution.In one photo, a woman holds her head in her hands, with the accompanying caption saying:”A female asylum-seeker comes to terms with the fact she won't be settled in Australia.”
It also came as Australian authorities searched for yet another missing asylum boat.
The Prime Minister levelled the charge today after the Opposition Leader branded him a “pretender' and declared the Papua New Guinea plan would never be implemented.
“It is quite plain to us that Mr Abbott is out there deliberately undermining the government's clear message to people-smugglers,” Mr Rudd said.
“This is not in the national interest. It might be in Mr Abbott's personal political interests. But frankly, if you do that sort of stuff, you raise the question about your ultimate fitness to hold the high office of prime minister.”
A navy vessel was this morning deployed to find an asylum-boat which failed to arrive at Christmas Island, as the second and third boats to be subject to Australia's new offshore processing regime reached the Indian Ocean territory.
An Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the 12-metre fishing boat had earlier been spotted by a Customs P3 Orion aircraft but had since disappeared.
“AMSA issued a broadcast to shipping about 10.24am AEST this morning advising ships within 100 nautical miles of Christmas Island to be on the lookout for the vessel,” a spokeswoman said.
Under the PNG plan, announced last week, Labor says all asylum-seekers intercepted by Australian authorities will be processed in PNG and settled there or in other countries.
The Coalition has attacked the plan on a range of fronts, saying there is nothing in the written deal to ensure all asylum-seekers go to PNG, and that vaccination requirements will not allow children to be sent there.
Mr Abbott said he would be happy to work with PNG to stop asylum boats, but “this particular deal is unravelling before our very eyes”.
“It is not legally binding and it doesn't say what Mr Rudd says it said,” he said.
“It doesn't say that everyone who comes to Australia illegally by boat will go to PNG and it doesn't say that no-one who goes to PNG will ever come to Australia.”
Mr Abbott, whose own policy is based on the Howard government's Pacific Solution, said Australia's asylum-seeker problems could not be contracted out to other countries.
“You can't rely on any other country to do Australia's job for it,” the Opposition Leader said.
“In the end, the solution to the problems of Australia lies in Australia's hands, and these hands will be safe and strong when it comes to protecting our borders.”
The second and third asylum boats subject to the PNG solution reached Christmas Island this morning, bringing bringing the number of men, women and children to be processed under the new rules to more than 200.