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Australian Customs Patrol - Source: Reuters -
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Malcolm Turnbull has labelled a generous deal to fast-track the resettlement of 78 asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking an "act of weakness" as pressure mounts on the government to find a new solution to the stand-off.
The situation aboard the Australian Customs vessel is expected to be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd meets with the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC summit in Singapore in coming days.
With Rudd's so-called "Indonesia solution" continuing to founder, it appeared the only way of persuading the asylum seekers to disembark may be to convince Indonesia to place the asylum seekers in community housing, rather than in detention.
It is believed the asylum seekers may change their mind about leaving the vessel if the prospect of being housed in the heavily guarded Tanjung Pinang centre is taken off the table.
Indonesian authorities on Thursday remained opposed to such an arrangement.
"We remain firm that they must be placed in the detention centre," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.
It is understood such a deal would only be possible if the order came from the highest level.
The 78 Tamils have already rejected a generous deal that would have fast-tracked their resettlement to Australia.
Turnbull on Thursday described the rejected deal as a "desperate effort to save face".
It would have seen some of those aboard the vessel resettled in Australia within four weeks, as well as given them jobs, homes and social security payments.
"The Australian government guarantees that mandated refugees will be resettled," a letter given to the asylum seekers said.
"If UNHCR has found you to be a refugee - Australian officials will assist you to be resettled within four to six weeks from the time you disembark the vessel."
The deal offered a faster outcome than asylum seekers that reach Australian waters.
Figures provided by the Department of Immigration show that asylum seekers taken to Christmas Island face an average of 100 days before their refugee claims are processed.
"It is an extraordinary act of weakness, a collapse of leadership and it sends an unequivocal signal to people smugglers and their customers to come to Australia in an unauthorised way," Turnbull said.
The rejected deal is also at odds with comments from Rudd who said normal resettlement processes would apply.
"We will work through as we have done with other challenges in the past and will do so in the future. Calmly, methodically," Rudd told reporters in Delhi.
"Normal resettlement processes, consistent with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) would apply," he said.
However, Rudd, who arrived in Delhi on Wednesday night after a trip to Afghanistan, told reporters he had not been fully briefed on the deal.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith maintains the offer wasn't out of the ordinary.
He also confirmed a number of the asylum seekers refusing to leave the Oceanic Viking had already be granted refugee status.
It's believed 30 of the 78 asylum have had their applications approved.
Smith insisted the Sri Lankans would not be taken to Christmas Island for processing.
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