In 2001, the federal government announced a proposal for a commercial space port on the island using Russian rockets to launch commercial satellites. Significant planning was undertaken and the first launch was planned for 2004. It might happen one day.
Christmas Island's 135 sq km area is 63 per cent national park. The annual mass migration of its red crabs each November has been described as one of the wonders of the natural world.
But Christmas Island is associated most strongly with asylum seekers. The former coalition government established a temporary detention facility on the island in late 2001 which has been progressively expanded.
It was the Tampa affair of August 2001 that brought the island into the national spotlight.
The Norwegian container ship MV Tampa had taken on board 438 asylum seekers from a floundering boat and was sailing towards Christmas Island.
Prime Minister John Howard, heading into an election campaign,Air max 2009 directed soldiers of the Special Air Service Regiment to take over the vessel to ensure none of them made it ashore.
From that move came the "Pacific Solution" whereby asylum seekers were to be processed on the Pacific island state of Nauru and Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea. The government also moved to excise Christmas Island and other islands from the migration zone.Wholesale coach handbags
The step was intensely controversial, but in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States, it was popular electorally, and the coalition was comfortably returned at the November 2001 federal poll.
That was the election campaign that gave us the enduring expression "children overboard".truereligion jeans
After an asylum seeker boat was intercepted by a navy destroyer off Christmas Island on October 6, 2001, allegations emerged that refugees on board had thrown their young children into the sea in hopes they would be rescued and taken to Australia.
The claim, repeated by the prime minister and others, was electoral dynamite - showing the depths to which some asylum seekers would sink to ensure they got to Australia.
But it never happened. Labor has since cited the incident as proof of the depths to which the coalition will descend for electoral advantage.
The danger of open sea voyages on crowded, barely seaworthy vessels was tragically underscored on October 19, 2001, when a rickety fishing boat, subsequently labelled SIEV-X (suspected illegal entry vessel - unknown) sank in international waters about 70km south of Java.
There were just 45 survivors from the estimated 400 on board.
More recently,Air max 360 tragedy struck again after another asylum seeker boat, known as SIEV-36, was intercepted near Ashmore Reef off northwest Western Australia on April 16, 2009.
As navy personnel inspected the vessel,baseball cap it exploded and sank. Five passengers died and 51 were injured, including several Australian sailors. A coronial inquest concluded the fire was deliberately lit by someone on board.
Christmas Island's 135 sq km area is 63 per cent national park. The annual mass migration of its red crabs each November has been described as one of the wonders of the natural world.
But Christmas Island is associated most strongly with asylum seekers. The former coalition government established a temporary detention facility on the island in late 2001 which has been progressively expanded.
It was the Tampa affair of August 2001 that brought the island into the national spotlight.
The Norwegian container ship MV Tampa had taken on board 438 asylum seekers from a floundering boat and was sailing towards Christmas Island.
Prime Minister John Howard, heading into an election campaign,Air max 2009 directed soldiers of the Special Air Service Regiment to take over the vessel to ensure none of them made it ashore.
From that move came the "Pacific Solution" whereby asylum seekers were to be processed on the Pacific island state of Nauru and Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea. The government also moved to excise Christmas Island and other islands from the migration zone.Wholesale coach handbags
The step was intensely controversial, but in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States, it was popular electorally, and the coalition was comfortably returned at the November 2001 federal poll.
That was the election campaign that gave us the enduring expression "children overboard".truereligion jeans
After an asylum seeker boat was intercepted by a navy destroyer off Christmas Island on October 6, 2001, allegations emerged that refugees on board had thrown their young children into the sea in hopes they would be rescued and taken to Australia.
The claim, repeated by the prime minister and others, was electoral dynamite - showing the depths to which some asylum seekers would sink to ensure they got to Australia.
But it never happened. Labor has since cited the incident as proof of the depths to which the coalition will descend for electoral advantage.
The danger of open sea voyages on crowded, barely seaworthy vessels was tragically underscored on October 19, 2001, when a rickety fishing boat, subsequently labelled SIEV-X (suspected illegal entry vessel - unknown) sank in international waters about 70km south of Java.
There were just 45 survivors from the estimated 400 on board.
More recently,Air max 360 tragedy struck again after another asylum seeker boat, known as SIEV-36, was intercepted near Ashmore Reef off northwest Western Australia on April 16, 2009.
As navy personnel inspected the vessel,baseball cap it exploded and sank. Five passengers died and 51 were injured, including several Australian sailors. A coronial inquest concluded the fire was deliberately lit by someone on board.
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