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Kevin Rudd - Source: Reuters -
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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, keen to curb a growing number of asylum seekers sailing to Australia via Indonesia, will hold talks with Asian leaders on the issue that has become divisive ahead of 2010 elections.
In Jakarta for Tuesday's inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Rudd is hoping for stronger regional backing to combat people trafficking, also meeting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Loong.
The sensitive issue of boatpeople has been put back on the Australian political agenda with the recent arrival of several boats and government opponents saying Rudd's "soft" asylum seeker policy is encouraging boatpeople to make the dangerous trip.
Rudd will initially seek to end a deadlock over the future of 78 boatpeople rescued by an Australian Custom vessel in Indonesian waters on the weekend.
"We are consulting with the Indonesian search and rescue authority about options for bringing the rescued people to a safe place," Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard told parliament ahead of Rudd's meetings in Jakarta.
"We will follow the letter of the law. International laws relating to safety of life at sea are in place to ensure the safety of everyone who finds themselves in distress at sea," Gillard said.
Indonesia's navy recently agreed to intercept another boat carrying 260 Sri Lankans off the Java coast after Rudd spoke directly with Yudhoyono, underscoring the political danger the issue poses for his government.
Divisions over asylum seekers carried conservatives to an unexpected victory in 2001 when then Australian prime minister John Howard sent commandos on to a Norwegian freighter at sea to stop 433 Afghans arriving in the country.
Under Howard, asylum seekers were processed offshore, mainly on the Pacific island nation of Nauru. Rudd's centre-left government abandoned that policy after his election in 2007, but critics say his stance has encouraged a surge in arrivals.
Australia receives just a fraction each year of what the United Nations estimates to be around 15.2 million refugees globally, but the issue splits voters.
Australia in 2008 saw 4,750 people seek asylum, while 333,000 claims were made in Europe, including 35,000 in France and 30,000 in the United Kingdom.
A recent Australian survey found 76 percent of respondents were concerned about an asylum influx which has seen almost 1,650 people arrive this year and which is stretching government detention capabilities.
Australia's influential Greens said ahead of Rudd's meetings that the 78 people on the latest boat, including at least five women and five children, should be allowed to land in Australia.
"It's not a good look for Australia and it's not the right thing morally or in the light of humanity," Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters. Hanson-Young's party controls five crucial upper house Senate swing votes needed by the government.
