CANBERRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has issued an ultimatum to more than 7500 "fake refugees" living in Australia, telling them they have until October to lodge a formal application for refugee status or face being deported.
Speaking to the press on Sunday, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton declared the "game is up" for those who arrived illegally by boat under the previous Labor government (between 2007 and 2013), and said they have less than six months to prove to the Immigration Department they have a case for legal protection.
Dutton said the 7500 "fake refugees", or those who arrived without identifying documents have until Oct. 1 to lodge the process and begin proceedings, explaining that those who fail to comply will be cut off from welfare support and will likely be deported.
"If people think they can rip the Australian taxpayer off, if people think that they can con the Australian taxpayer, then I'm sorry, the game's up," he said.
The minister said while Australia was a generous country in terms of resettling legitimate refugees, the Commonwealth could not afford to continue to prop up illegals while the country is in debt.
He said that many who had arrived without proper documents had been accessing government income support, at an estimated cost of 250 million Australian dollars (186.4 million U.S. dollars) in 2016.
