13 June 2002 News Home Breaking News State News National News Ruddock pushes Afghan cash plan 13jun02 THE Government wants to see if Afghan asylum seekers will accept a $2,000 repatriation offer before considering other options for those refused refugee status. Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock told ABC Radio that asylum seekers were being offered $2,000 to go home, which was very generous relative to their expected incomes in their homeland. "If you are looking at the nature of the offer that we've made, it's a very generous offer, it's in the order of $2,000 per person and then up to $10,000 per family," he said. "When you understand that the yearly income for an Afghan is $200, you can see that this is 10 times what a person would expect to earn during the course of a year." Only 25 Afghan asylum seekers who were rescued by the MS Tampa last year were recognised as refugees in a decision handed down last night by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It takes to 32 the number of Afghans from the more than 400 who were rescued from the Tampa who have been recognised as genuine refugees. However, because of the changing security situation in Afghanistan, the UNHCR has requested the asylum seekers not be forcibly returned home. Mr Ruddock today acknowledged that there were dangers for Afghanis returning home, but noted other people returning to wartorn homelands had faced a similar situation. "Yes, there are dangers of sorts in relation to areas which may have been landmined. This is the sort of dangers the Khmer had to face when they returned, people in Kosovo had to face when they returned," he said. Concern over what will be done with the asylum seekers has become more pressing after Nauru, one of the offshore processing centres being used by the Government, described its role in the so-called "Pacific solution" as a nightmare. "In relation to the way forward in relation to these matters, our view is we need to test whether or not people are prepared to make the sensible decision and to return home now," Mr Ruddock said. "We've given them 28 days from the point at which any final appeal is dealt with and numbers of people have already expressed some interest to our officers." The asylum seekers have another avenue of appeal following the initial determination. Mr Ruddock also stood by a Government decision to excise islands off northern Australia from the nation's migration zone amid reports that a boat that was travelling through Indonesian waters had sunk. Intelligence reports that a vessel could be heading towards Australia prompted the Government decision last week to excise all northern islands from Exmouth in Western Australia to the Coral Sea in Queensland from the migration zone. "It was a sensible decision, it's still a sensible decision," Mr Ruddock said. "I hope nothing has happened tragically to any vessel carrying people - but if something has, it doesn't in any way deny this good approach for dealing with potentially other boats who are seeking to follow this path." AAP