Anelay said: "The government believes the most effective way to prevent refugees and migrants attempting this dangerous crossing is to focus our attention on countries of origin and transit, as well as taking steps to fight the people smugglers who wilfully put lives at risk by packing migrants into unseaworthy boats".
In a clear signal the Rudd government is preparing for a crackdown on people smugglers ahead of the federal election, Carr said his department was preparing "up to date" information for the immigration tribunals about the political situation in the countries from which refugee applicants come, so they did not approve those who had no genuine fear of persecution.
Zuwara is popular because it is close to Sicily, 300 miles north, and because it is populated by ethnic Amazigh (Berbers), who exclude outside security forces, giving smugglers a freer hand, according to Tripoli police.
In contrast to the misery in which they trade, Libya's people smugglers make big profits.
Libyan coastguards think smugglers could move three or four times as many migrants if they had more boats, but most only make a single trip, and new vessels are getting harder to find.
So some smugglers are routing their charges further south, to Egypt, and the beaches of Alexandria and Damietta, or else flying them to Algiers and Tripoli for onward shipment through the central Mediterranean.
Often the smugglers just hand the boat over to the migrants, to avoid arrest by Italian ships patrolling the Mediterranean.
She paid smugglers to cross to Libya via Algeria, only to be robbed in the mountains.
He is scared about a contract his family signed with the smugglers who brought him across to Sicily.
Rudd said there was no cap or limit on the number of asylum seekers PNG had agreed to take, but he expected over time as people smugglers "got the message" the rate of arrivals would slow.
This week, Nigerien legislators adopted a law calling for prison sentences of up to 30 years for smugglers of illegal immigrants in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants leaving Africa for Europe.
