A commonwealth official has told an inquest into the Christmas Island boat tragedy that different police and rescue vessels may have been sent there had he known of an objection by a marine rescue officer.
The coronial inquest in Perth has heard rough seas and bad weather prevented the launch of police and volunteer rescue Leisure Cats on the island when the asylum seeker boat hit Rocky Point on December 15.
It has also been revealed the two boats had failed maritime safety inspections and there were serious questions about their weight and stability.
West Australian coroner Alastair Hope is investigating the deaths of 30 people from Iraq and Iran, and the likely deaths of 20 others, when the vessel known as SIEV 221 broke up.
On Wednesday the inquest heard from Paul Kimber, manager of the Volunteer Marine Rescue Service WA, that in 2007 he had urged commonwealth officials to buy single-hull Naiads, not Leisure Cats.
He said the Naiads were more appropriate for island conditions, whereas the Leisure Cats had stability and manoeuvring issues in rough seas and were difficult to launch and retrieve in such conditions.
Mr Kimber said the Naiads could have been launched in the monsoonal conditions prevailing and may have been able to get a line to SIEV 221 to pull it away from the rocks.
The Leisure Cats were chosen by commonwealth authorities in 2008 for Australian Federal Police on the island and for the island's volunteer rescue unit.
On Thursday, Julian Yates, the first assistant secretary for the Federal Territories Division, told the inquest he had no knowledge of Mr Kimber's objections when the decision to buy the Leisure Cats was being made.
Asked by Mr Hope if the purchase decision may have been different if he had known of the objections, Mr Yates replied: "I believe it would have, yes".
He said it would have caused him to reconsider whether Leisure Cats or Naiads were the appropriate vessel for Christmas Island.
Mr Yates agreed with Mr Hope that it was "unfortunate" he was not aware of Mr Kimber's objections.
Federal police officer Allen Le Lievre told the inquest he was involved in approving Leisure Cats as a vessel to be given by the Australian government to Indonesian water police.
After those five boats went to Indonesia in 2003 it was decided to buy Leisure Cats for the ACT Water Police and later for Thursday Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands to maintain uniformity across the AFP fleet.
Mr Le Lievre said the Leisure Cats were chosen primarily for AFP patrol duties, not as search and rescue vessels.
Asked about whether the Christmas Island Leisure Cats could have been used on December 15, he said: "I think it would be a brave person to operate those vessels in those conditions".
The inquest also heard AFP evidence that serious discrepancies had been found in 2010 between the weights of the Leisure Cats in the AFP fleet and what was recorded in the "stability books" supplied by the manufacturer.
That had led to restrictions being imposed on their certification, operations and the number of personnel they could carry.
The inquest continues.
Front page
RSS Feed