A suspected illegal entry vessel, (SIEV), departs the Indonesian port of Lampung, Sumatra, bound for the Australian territory of Christmas Island, with 420 men, women and children onboard. Many of these were from the troubled Middle East countries of Iraq, Iran, Palestine, and Algeria, and were fleeing tyranny in those countries. The 19 metre vessel, given the identifier SIEV-X, was un-seaworthy and sank later that day in International waters, but still inside the Indonesian zone for search and rescue. Indonesian authorities were slow to react, and by the time Indonesian fishing boats arrived on the scene, some 353 people had drowned; many of them women and children. Despite the fact that the incident happened in the Indonesian search and rescue zone, and the Indonesian Government did not request any support, the Australian Government was criticized in some circles for failing to divert an RAN vessel, then on Operation Relex immigration patrols, near Christmas Island, to the scene.
HMAS Brisbane decommissioned in front of approximately 1700 guests marking the end of the DDG era in the RAN