The Age, April 7, 2006
Papuan boat people not wanted: PM
JOHN Howard says most Australians do not want West Papuans seeking refuge
here.
The Prime Minister also expressed relief yesterday that a West Papuan family had
apparently landed in Papua New Guinea rather than reaching its destination of an
Australian island.
"That's a good thing in the context of the relationship between Australia and
Indonesia," Mr Howard told ABC radio.
As the Government continued efforts to repair relations with Indonesia, which reacted
angrily to Australia granting protection to 42 West Papuans, Defence Minister
Brendan Nelson appealed to Indonesia to agree to joint navy patrols to stop illegal
arrivals.
Dr Nelson also strongly defended Indonesia's right to send five warships to waters off
West Papua to intercept any asylum seekers. He discussed the Royal Australian
Navy conducting joint patrols with the Indonesian Navy when he recently met the chief
of Indonesia's navy.
"I remain very committed to having the Royal Australian Navy, if it were able to,
conduct joint and co-ordinated patrols with the Indonesian Navy," he told reporters at
the start of an international military exercise in Darwin that was snubbed by
Indonesia.
Dr Nelson wants these co-operative arrangements to start "sooner rather than later".
Government sources said later the patrols would be directed at preventing illegal
arrivals and illegal fishing. But the co-operation would not mean having sailors on each
other's ships. Nor would joint patrols mean that Australian ships would enter
Indonesian waters or vice versa.
Mr Howard issued a blunt, fresh warning to West Papuans to stay at home. "I would
say to people in West Papua and … to any people in Australia … who may be
encouraging them to come to Australia, that that is not something the Australian
Government, or I believe the majority of the Australian public, wants.
"We regard West Papuans as citizens of the Republic of Indonesia and we will not
support any kind of independence movement." Mr Howard stressed the history of
West Papua was "quite different" from that of East Timor.
While Indonesia had taken over East Timor by force, "West Papua was ceded to
Indonesia in the 1960s as a result of a United Nations referendum. Some people,
years later, said it was a dodgy referendum - but that was years later."
Defence analyst Allan Behm said Mr Howard's comment about the Papuan family
landing in PNG was like saying "it's better to have the stray dog defecating in
someone else's backyard than my own".
Dr Nelson denied that Indonesia's decision not to attend the Proliferation Security
Initiative exercise, which is aimed at stopping the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, had anything to do with the Papuan visa row.
Copyright © 2006. The Age Company Ltd.
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