Joint Australia-Indonesia plan to disrupt people-smuggling

THE Australian and Indonesian governments are discussing "new mechanisms" to disrupt people-smuggling flows into their region.

THE Australian and Indonesian governments are discussing "new mechanisms" to disrupt people-smuggling flows into their region.

As part of their expanded co-operation, foreign ministers Kevin Rudd and Marty Natalegawa yesterday announced a joint program for detecting and notifying fraudulent identity documents used by the smuggling rackets.

Mr Rudd said he had been reassured by Mr Natalegawa that the removal from Indonesia's immigration "red list" of applicants from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would not reduce surveillance for asylum-seekers among arrivals from those countries.

The easing of visa processing for visitors from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and consideration of removing Pakistan and Afghanistan from the red list, has raised concerns among Australian border security agencies about the risk of increased influxes of asylum-seekers from those countries through Indonesia.

About 4000 refugees and asylum-seekers, most seeking entry to Australia, are currently notified to the Indonesian government.

A surge of arrivals from Iran in the past 12 months has swelled the number of asylum-seekers in Indonesia.

Iranians have visa-on-arrival privileges in Indonesia and since mid-last year have dominated boatpeople arrivals in Australia.

But Mr Rudd was told yesterday the new arrangements for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were not for visa-free entry or visa-on-arrival. Visa applications from those countries would be individually vetted by the Indonesian embassies and, in most cases, by immigration officials in Jakarta.

The new arrangements would also be reviewed by Indonesian authorities once they were in operation.

Asked about the Iranian influx, the Indonesian Foreign Minister said: "We have agreed just now to share information on the flow of such smuggled people, whether it be from Iran or elsewhere."

Mr Natalegawa added later that he and Mr Rudd had discussed "maybe having to identify new ways and means and new mechanisms to enhance our co-operation on this issue".

He refused to be drawn, however, on whether Indonesia would support a renewed effort by the Australian government to realise the Malaysia Solution for offshore processing of asylum-seekers.

"We would just like to have a solution, to be honest, because wherever this solution is to be found, there is a tendency to give a country label to it, whether it be Malaysia, whether it be the Pacific, whether it be Timor Leste before.

"We just need a solution, and all of us are part of that effort."

The comments came as embattled Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday attacked the Gillard government's border protection policy and described his own country's human rights record as "notorious".

Speaking ahead of his surprise win over sodomy charges in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, he reinforced his opposition to Labor's shelved proposal to send 800 asylum-seekers to Malaysia in return for 4000 genuine refugees.