REFUGEE

THE federal Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, has seized on a report that most of the asylum seekers in a stand-off with Australian authorities have lived in Indonesia for years.

He suggested that it destroyed the Government's claim that recent boat arrivals were due to the end of the Sri Lankan civil war rather than Australian policy changes.

The Sun-Herald reported yesterday that in messages thrown off the Oceanic Viking, asylum seekers said they had been living in Indonesia for as long as five years and had been accepted by the United Nations in Jakarta as genuine refugees.

Mr Turnbull told Channel Ten: ''If, in fact, it is true that most of the asylum seekers on the Oceanic Viking have been living in Indonesia for five years, then that completely demolishes Kevin Rudd's argument that the only reason we're seeing this recent surge in the last 12 months or so is because of … the end of the hostilities of the war in Sri Lanka.''

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said the status of the asylum seekers was unclear. ''As always in these things, I believe it's best not to rush to judgment and not assume facts that we might see in media or other reports,'' he told Channel Nine.

''The best way of ascertaining that is for the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to go off the boat and be assessed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia.''

The asylum seekers are refusing to disembark because they want to seek asylum in Australia.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said he did not know the status of the asylum seekers, but said it was a matter for the UNHCR. ''I'm unaware of what the outcome of any processing or initial processing or initial discussions may be,'' Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.

He could not say whether Australian officials had interviewed the asylum seekers.

He criticised Mr Turnbull for refusing to put forward an alternative policy. ''If you don't have the courage and the determination to frame a policy on border protection, how could anyone expect you to have the courage and the determination to take the tough decisions on border protection which are expected of a government on any particular day?''

Mr Turnbull refused to say what the Coalition would do.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald