John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. Minister, in light of the continuing revelations of the persecution of the West Papuan people by the Indonesian authorities, including the detailed and distressing reports of the removal of West Papuan children from their families and their culture for education and indoctrination into Islam in the pesantren schools in Jakarta and other areas of Indonesia—and in light of the fact that much of our aid to Indonesia is being spent on the funding of schools and with the recent budget announcement that Australia's aid to Indonesia will increase by $105 million to $646 million this year—can the minister guarantee that none of Australian taxpayers' money given to Indonesia in foreign aid will be used to fund Indonesia's oppression of the human rights of the West Papuan people?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No Australian aid money is being used to oppress the Papuan people. The allegation is wrong; it is based on fallacious propaganda. Not even proponents of Papuan independence subscribe to this view. The Australian government agrees with the Indonesian president, President Yudhoyono, that full implementation of special autonomy is the best way to deliver durable peace and security for the people of Papua. Australia recognises the territorial integrity of Indonesia through the 2006 Lombok Treaty. We do not see special autonomy as a step towards Papuan independence.

Contrary to Senator Madigan's allegations, Australians should all be proud that our aid to Indonesia is improving school quality by building 2,000 junior secondary schools, training midwives so that more than 40,000 births can be attended and delivering an extra 9,000 sewerage connections in communities without access to water or sanitation. This aid will establish 300,000 new secondary school enrolments by 2016. Some 20,000 people in Papua and West Papua will receive HIV treatment through our aid program. Even Senator Madigan should acknowledge that the quickest way out of poverty is access to education and good health services. Let me be very clear: the Australian position, under governments of different persuasion, has been that Indonesian sovereignty in the provinces of West Papua is absolute and uncontested, and only reckless Australians would argue for any other proposition. Only reckless, unthinking Australians would defy this country's national interests and urge the dismemberment of Indonesia. That is an appalling thing to do. It takes no account of this country's interests or of the interests and welfare of the people of Indonesia or of those in Papua.

John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, in recent reports on the removal of West Papuan children from their homes, it was stated that the Indonesian authorities were using Hercules C130 planes to fly these children to Jakarta and elsewhere. Can you advise whether the C130s or any other planes or equipment used in these removals—or in fact the forced removal of any West Papuan people from their country—have been gifted or sold to Indonesia by the Australian government?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all, we have no evidence of the extraordinary allegation that children are being taken from their homes—forcibly removed—and inculcated in Islam in the rest of Indonesia. We have no evidence of that. That is the first point I want to make and underline. I am advised that none of the Australian C130 aircraft have been delivered to Indonesia yet. Through the Defence Cooperation Program with Indonesia, Australia has agreed to provide up to four of them. The contribution was to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations so that Indonesia could respond better to natural disasters. None of the Australian C130 aircraft have been delivered yet. One of the aircraft is being repaired, but delivery to Indonesia is some time off. The suggestion that there were forced removals of West Papuan people has never been established.

John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. In 2008, Prime Minister Rudd rightly apologised to the members of the stolen generation for the actions perpetrated against them and stated that the injustices of the past must never happen again. Minister Carr, can you advise whether the government consider these injustices to be limited to our own shores or whether they have considered at what point they will have to apologise to the stolen generations of West Papua for the tacit approval of these injustices by the silence of successive Australian governments?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just asserted—I hope my language was clear enough—that no evidence has been presented to us of the forced removal of children from homes in the Papuan provinces and their religious inculcation elsewhere in Indonesia. We have not seen evidence of it. Our embassy in Jakarta takes a keen interest in all human rights questions that arise out of Papua. It takes a keen interest and investigates them. We maintain a dialogue with Indonesia about this. In my meetings with the Indonesians—with the President, with the Foreign Minister—our Indonesian interlocutors have raised the matter of Papua before I have been able to get to it. The President has underlined his commitment to special autonomy, and we agree with his interpretation that economic growth, the achievement of prosperity, is the best path forward—linked to special autonomy—for the people of those two provinces.