West Papua: Australia Toughens Asylum Rules
Australia is to send all asylum seekers arriving by boat on its mainland to be processed in island camps.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said those seeking refugee status would
be assessed in an "offshore location".
The move follows a diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia over the
issue of refugees.
In March, Jakarta recalled its envoy to Canberra over Australia's decision
to grant refugee status to 42 people from Papua province.
Previously, since 2001, asylum seekers arriving at offshore islands were deemed
to have landed outside Australia's migration zone, meaning that their cases
did not fall under Australian migration law, whilst those arriving on the
mainland were handled under the Australian legal process.
Under the new system, all new arrivals by boat would have their claims handled
as if they were in a UN refugee camp. They would not have access to review
processes under Australian law and, if their claims were upheld, could be
settled in a third country.
"People found to be refugees will remain offshore until resettlement
to a third country is arranged," Ms Vanstone said.
"The new measures emphasise the government's strong commitment to effective
border control while ensuring we continue to meet our international obligations,"
she said.
Australia would also increase sea and air patrols off its northern coast over
waters between Australia and Indonesia, Ms Vanstone said.
'Overreaction'
Prime Minister John Howard denied the move was designed to appease Indonesia,
saying it was to "regularise our policy".
But he added, "Clearly, if it... makes a contribution to (our) bilateral
relationship, that is a very good thing."
But opposition leader Kim Beazley criticised the change. "Our policy
cannot be changed at the behest of any other country," he said.
And David Mann from the Refugee and Immigration Legal Center told ABC radio
that the decision was a "very dangerous overreaction".
"Under international law, people have a clear-cut, fundamental right
to seek asylum in Australia, and to have their case for protection fully and
properly heard in Australia," he said.
The decision in January to grant temporary protection visas to the group of
Papuans, who arrived by boat in northern Australia, sparked protests in Indonesia
and a call for a boycott of Australian goods.
There has been a low-level separatist insurgency for decades in Papua province
and the Papuans, some of whom were said to be pro-independence activists,
said they were fleeing Indonesian oppression.