工黨一貫一廂情願——馬來西亞拒絕接受澳洲的800名船民，認定自協議達成之前的船民沒有資格前往馬來西亞

來源: 天外飛磚於 2011-05-18 16:38:32 [檔案] [博客] [舊帖] [給我悄悄話] 本文已被閱讀：次 (23118 bytes)

MALAYSIAN officials have indicated they will reserve the right to refuse entry to asylum-seekers who are to be sent from Australia, under the terms of a controversial refugee swap announced by the Gillard government.

With the Papua New Guinea government expected to come under intense pressure today to release the terms of Canberra's proposed asylum-seeker processing centre on Manus Island, fresh details have begun to emerge about the terms of the government's deal with Malaysia.

Malaysian high commissioner Salman Ahmad said yesterday the arrangement might not apply to all the asylum-seekers Canberra proposed to transfer. Those whose claims for refugee status had already been rejected were unlikely to be accepted, he said. Meanwhile, Julia Gillard refused to say whether children would be included in the Australian quota of 800.

Mr Ahmad told The Australian: "We would like to be in the selection process of who comes to Malaysia and who comes to Australia. The selection process should be mutually agreeable to all sides."

He said Australian and Malaysian officials would meet in the coming weeks to thrash out the terms of the deal, announced on Saturday.

In PNG, the Somare government cabinet was meeting last night with a long agenda, including both parliamentary matters and the Canberra proposal, for which more details were supplied by Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles.

A cabinet meeting that was expected to approve Australia's proposal last week deferred its decision, although sources on both sides of the negotiations believe Port More*****y will agree to the deal.

Mr Marles, who has been appointed special envoy on the issue by the Prime Minister, led the Australian team in talks last week in Port More*****y. He flew back over the weekend for further consultations and returned yesterday morning to PNG, refusing to discuss the issue on his arrival at Jacksons Airport.

The PNG government is continuing discussions about the assessment centre. It has been disappointed with the level of representation from Australia on the issue, but still appears inclined, on balance, to come to an agreement with Canberra.

The Gillard government yesterday came under increased fire over its deal with Malaysia, under which the Asian nation would take 800 boatpeople bound for Australia in exchange for 4000 declared refugees in Malaysia, staggered over a four-year period.

Ms Gillard yesterday dodged questions about the finer points of the deal.

"But we are intending to take a fairly tough approach," she said.

Mr Ahmad said the refugee swap was first raised in 2009, and the idea refined during Bali Process talks and visits to Kuala Lumpur by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and national security adviser Duncan Lewis.

Malaysia is keen to see more countries in the region sign up to what it describes as a "pilot project" and warned Canberra it was unlikely to accept "rejects", asylum-seekers whose refugee claims have not been upheld.

The high commissioner also strongly defended his country's treatment of refugees and questioned claims that refugees had been mistreated by Malaysian authorities.

Tony Abbott yesterday attacked the deal as "another panicked, desperate thought-bubble from a government which is literally drowning in problems of its own making".

"Go back to the policies that worked, the policies that the Coalition supports: that's Nauru, Manus, temporary protection visas and a willingness to turn boats around when it's safe to do so," the Opposition Leader said yesterday.

The Gillard government was yesterday buoyed by the support of Papua New Guinea's opposition, led by Mekere Morauta and his deputy, Bart Philemon, for Australia's proposal in principle.

And Prime Minister Michael Somare indicated his general support, in informal talks with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd while he was recovering from surgery in Singapore, where he remains. Sam Abal is Acting Prime Minister in his absence.

It appears that Ms Gillard was hoping to be able to announce a two-pronged answer to the people-smuggling challenge, with boat arrivals being sent either to Malaysia or to PNG, as the core element of a suite of measures.

But when news of the PNG negotiations emerged late last week, she brought forward the announcement of the Malaysian part of the plan, which was further advanced.

It appears that a substantial proportion of new boat arrivals will, under the plan, be flown either to Manus in PNG or to Kuala Lumpur, where they will be assessed by Australian officials in the case of Manus, or by UN High Commissioner for Refugees officials in Malaysia. Some of those in Manus who are assessed as refugees will then come back to Australia, but according to remarks by Ms Gillard at the weekend, those who are sent to Malaysia will not be eligible for settlement in Australia, even if proven to be refugees.

Former PNG prime minister Rabbie Namaliu, who was foreign minister during most of the previous operation of the Manus centre, said that it didn't create much of a problem for the country, and Manus benefited.

The two MPs representing Manus, Provincial Affairs Minister Joe Pomat and Governor Michael Sapau, are both in the ruling National Alliance, and the increased funding and economic activity that would accompany reopening the centre would not damage their re-election chances when PNG goes to the polls in the middle of next year.

Sir Rabbie said that permitting such a centre to operate in PNG was a sign of the goodwill between neighbouring countries, and was not seen principally as a revenue-earner.

But approval for a centre would be expected to provide PNG with greater leverage over Australia's aid spending there, which is $457 million this year.

Additional reporting: Mark Dodd