“If a random boat can arrive and people into an air base, what else is happening in the north? The most vulnerable coastline we have is along the north, so this shows that we need to see a focus of key assets, key infrastructure and a lot more of a defence presence.” The boat carrying 15 Chinese citizens landed at the remote Mungalalu Truscott Airbase in earlier April, and it took days for an Australian Defence Force operation to track them all down. Estimated 15 Chinese nationals walked on to the Truscott airbase around 1pm on Friday.
The base is in an extremely remote part of the Kimberley region, in the far north of Western Australia.
It is understood more than 100 Australian Defence Force operatives were at the base.
The latest arrivals are expected to be transported to Darwin, before being flown to Nauru.