No stipulations placed on use of patrol boats given to Sri Lanka by Australia "Let's be absolutely crystal clear, this is about saving lives at sea": Tony Abbott. Photo: Leigh Henningham Australia's agreement with Sri Lanka for the handover of two patrol boats for border protection puts no restrictions on how they are used or limits on the weapons that can be fitted, Fairfax Media has confirmed. The document governing the gift of the two Bay-class patrol boats is a 2009 memorandum of understanding for co-operation on people smuggling, which makes no mention of the use of military assets. This is despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott's assurances the MOU guaranteed that Sri Lanka, which faces war crimes accusations dating to its recent bloody civil war, would use the boats for "humanitarian purposes, for search-and-rescue purposes." When he announced the plan to give the boats to Sri Lanka, Mr Abbott said the MOU dealt with "safety of life at sea." However, the 2009 document makes no such reference. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told ABC radio on Monday Australia would "work through those arrangements with the Sri Lankan government." The Sri Lankan Navy has been the subject of persistent war-crimes allegations, especially during the final weeks of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009, when Tamils fleeing the ever-diminishing conflict zone in the north-east of the island tried to escape by sea. Mr Abbott said he proposed donating Australia's old patrol boats to neighbouring countries from where asylum seekers are trying to reach Australia. "It was my idea that the retiring Bay-class vessels should be made available to our friends and allies to enhance their capacity to crack down on this evil trade," he said. Let's be absolutely crystal clear, this is about saving lives at sea. The Australian patrol boats are fitted with 7.62-millimetre machineguns. These will be removed before they are handed over, but the Sri Lankans could place weapons on the same mounting, including larger, 50-calibre guns. The chief of the Sri Lankan Navy's eastern and northern commands at the end of the war, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, is now the country's high commissioner to Australia. He has consistently denied allegations of war crimes by sailors under his command. A United Nations report on the end of the Sri Lankan civil war found it was "unable to accept the version of events held by the government of Sri Lanka." A spokesman for Mr Morrison said the former Labor government had discussed giving Sri Lanka "materiel and equipment" to help with border protection but had not followed through on the talks.