Fed: Australia did not tell Indonesia Papuans were coming

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2006
Fed: Australia did not tell Indonesia Papuans were coming

SYDNEY, April 10 AAP - Australian authorities knew 43 Papuan asylum-seekers were on
their way to Australia five days before they landed at Cape York but failed to fail their
Indonesian counterparts.

Immigration Department spokesman David Seale said the federal government first heard
the Papuans planned to come to Australia on January 13, the night they left Merauke in
Papua, Fairfax newspapers reported today.

Because they were still in Indonesian waters, Australia's obligations under the refugee
convention to protect them were not triggered.

It was January 18 when the 43 were found on Cape York but Indonesia said it only heard
of their impending arrival through the Australian media.

"We didn't get any information until then. That is when the ambassador was called in
for a briefing by (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)", said Dino Kusnadi, a
spokesman for the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.

Mr Seale also confirmed other "Commonwealth border agencies" believed to be customs
and the federal police, as well as the Maritime Safety Authority and Queensland police,
knew of the advance reports of the Papuans' trip.

"It's not our practice to canvass the source of such reports and other such operational
detail," he said.

The decision to grant 42 of the group temporary protection visas has caused a meltdown
in relations between Australia and Indonesia, and today's revelation is likely to inflame
the situation further, Fairfax newspapers said.

AAP lb

KEYWORD: PAPUA INDON

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