A marine rescue official has told a coronial inquest into the Christmas Island boat tragedy that he had warned against buying unsuitable rescue boats for the island.
Police, Customs and volunteer rescue boats on the island were not capable of handling the wild seas when an asylum seeker boat hit Rocky Point on December 15 last year, the inquest in Perth has heard.
The boats had failed maritime safety inspections and could not be launched for a rescue anyway, because of the dangerous seas and weather, the inquest heard.
West Australian Coroner Alastair Hope is conducting the inquiry into the deaths of 30 people from Iraq and Iran, and the likely deaths of 20 others.
Four fast boats launched from the naval patrol vessel HMAS Pirie and the Customs vessel Triton raced to the crash site and pulled survivors from the water.
On Wednesday, Paul Kimber, the manager of the Volunteer Marine Rescue Service WA, told the inquest that he had in 2007 urged commonwealth officials to buy single-hull Naiads rather than Leisure Cat rescue boats.
He said the Naiads would be more appropriate for the conditions on Christmas Island, whereas the Leisure Cats were designed as leisure boats and could have stability and manoeuvring problems in rough seas.
Mr Kimber said the Leisure Cats were difficult to launch and retrieve in rough weather on the Island.
The Leisure Cats were chosen by commonwealth authorities for the volunteer rescue unit and for Australian Federal Police (AFP) on the island.
Mr Kimber said he was not consulted about the decision to procure the vessels, but he had lobbied officials verbally about his preference for the Naiads.
He said at one point he saw an AFP officer at a boat show in Perth and urged him to check out the Naiad on display, but he had declined and indicated he was only interested in the Leisure Cats.
Mr Kimber said that once the purchase of the Leisure Cats was confirmed, he made written submissions regarding how they could be fitted out and improved for operations.
In sometimes testy exchanges with counsel for the Commonwealth, Gary Livermore, Mr Kimber admitted he had not made any earlier written recommendations to commonwealth officials urging Naiads over Leisure Cats.
"It's not my place to tell the commonwealth what, or what not, to buy," he said.
Mr Livermore said Mr Kimber had not hesitated to "bag" commonwealth officials over the rescue boat choice in a statement he made in April following the boat tragedy.
The inquest earlier heard from Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) ship inspections manager Alex Schultz-Altmann that the Leisure Cats had stability deficiencies and were "only suitable for rescues in fair weather conditions".
The inquest continues.
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