REFUGEE

THE union movement will today demand Kevin Rudd adopt a softer approach to asylum-seekers and allow 78 people in limbo on board the Oceanic Viking to enter Australia for processing.

Unions that contribute millions of dollars to the ALP's election war chest through membership fees will urge Mr Rudd to end the standoff by ordering the Customs vessel to head for Christmas Island to process the asylum-seekers' claims.

The ACTU has also taken out an advertisement in The Australian today, calling on the government to take a more humane approach to asylum-seekers.

The union push comes amid claims that Indonesian authorities restricted water supplies on the weekend to another wooden refugee boat with 255 Australia-bound asylum-seekers anchored off the Indonesian port of Merak in a bid to force them off the boat.

Three people had been hospitalised and more than 30 asylum-seekers, including sick children, are suffering from conjunctivitis.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said blue-collar workers would back Mr Rudd if he showed leadership on asylum-seekers rather than "blind adherence to hardline border security policy", adding that it was time for Australia to "do the right thing".

"The government should demonstrate Australians' strong humanitarian values by stepping in and bringing these people to Australia," Ms Burrow told The Australian. "Everyone deserves a fair go. These unfortunate people have been through enough. Their ordeal should be brought to an end and they should be given immediate shelter and proper care by Australian authorities.

"It's absolutely legally accurate they were rescued in international waters. Technically, this is Indonesia's responsibility. But that's not the point. You can't have 78 asylum-seekers floating around indefinitely.

"Working Australians will respect strong political leadership that shows a humane response rather than a blind adherence to hardline border security policy."

Ms Burrow said that, as more asylum-seekers were fleeing Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and the Middle East, the Rudd government should work with other leaders in the region to establish humane facilities for people seeking safety from conflict zones. Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon is leading the push to form a coalition with church groups to call on Mr Rudd to show greater compassion.

Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes was the first to break ranks to urge Mr Rudd to change tack, calling on him to show leadership and saying to change the debate would be "real Labor hero stuff".

Despite fears children could be held behind the razor wire of Indonesian detention centres, the Rudd government's caucus has remained largely silent, with MPs Michael Danby and Julia Irwin the only ones to publicly question elements of Mr Rudd's approach.

The asylum-seekers refusing to leave the Oceanic Viking are entering their third week on the vessel after they were rescued by Australian authorities in Indonesian waters following a request for help from Indonesia.

As the Indonesians are refusing to remove the asylum-seekers by force, the Rudd government has been locked in a standoff with local authorities who have accused Australia of using the region as a dumping ground for asylum-seekers and the people on the boat who do not want their claims processed in Indonesia.

A refugee advocacy group said yesterday that 37 of the 78 Tamils on the Oceanic Viking had been assessed as refugees by UNHCR.

Mr Rudd said he was unaware whether the asylum-seekers had already been declared refugees.

The Prime Minister conceded lack of access to Sri Lankan detention camps by international aid agencies such as the UNHCR was a factor in Tamils opting for the people-smuggling route to a better life in Australia.

Mr Rudd said his policy on asylum-seekers was clear cut: "We believe that in the national interest what's required is a responsible policy on immigration, hardline on people-smugglers, humane on asylum-seekers."

Refugee advocates in touch with the Tamil boatpeople in Merak told The Australian yesterday more than 30 asylum-seekers, including children, were infected with conjunctivitis. That boat was intercepted in Indonesian waters following a tip-off from Australia.

Saradha Nathan of the Australian Tamil Congress said the Merak asylum-seekers had just one communal toilet to share between more than 250 people.