Four boats this week, after five in five weeks Four boats this week - not a good one - as the head of Operation Sovereign Borders reveals in today's press conference: In summary, during this reporting period, 162 illegal maritime arrivals, six crew, and 27 people whose status is yet undetermined on four suspected illegal entry vessels were or will shortly be transferred to Department of Immigration and Border Protection Authorities on Christmas Island. That said, the Immigration Minister still notes a steep decline in arrivals: For weeks we have been warning that smugglers will try to lift their tempo of ventures in this final window before the monsoon, and that is what we have seen in this past week. Conditions have been favourable for such ventures and the Government will not be surprised if further ventures are attempted in the few weeks remaining before the monsoon formally sets in. Notwithstanding these latest arrivals, the decline in illegal arrivals by boat since Operation Sovereign Borders remain at below 80 per cent of what they were in the previous period following the Regional Resettlement Arrangement under the former Government up until the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders.