Indonesian says Australia has created a burden after decision to cut resettlement intake of asylum seekers

Updated

Indonesia says Australia has burdened it with the responsibility of looking after thousands of refugees and asylum seekers, after the Federal Government decided to cut its resettlement intake.

Indonesia's minister for law and human rights, Yasonna Laoly, said his country could only accommodate 2,000 asylum seekers and refugees.

Mr Laoly said it was a human rights issue and the decision placed a burden on Indonesia.

"It's Australia's right, but it becomes a burden for us," Mr Laoly said.

On last month's figures, there were 10,500 asylum seekers and refugees registered with the United Nations (UN) in Jakarta.

As Indonesia is not a signatory to the refugee convention, the UNHCR seeks to resettle them in countries like Australia.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will not say whether she discussed the policy with her Indonesian counterpart at last weekend's G20 summit but said Indonesian authorities were briefed on the plan.

"I spent quite some time with the new [Indonesian] foreign minister over the weekend in Brisbane at the G20," she said.

"We spoke about a whole range of issues including the issue of border protection and asylum seekers policy and we agreed to work closely.

"The Indonesian authorities have been briefed in detail about this."

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced on Tuesday Australia would cut the number of refugees it would resettle from Indonesia and would not accept anyone who had registered in Indonesia after July 1.

Mr Morrison described the decision on Wednesday as "taking the sugar off the table".

"We're trying to stop people thinking that it's OK to come into Indonesia and use that as a waiting ground to get to Australia," he said.

Mr Morrison said Indonesia, as a transit country, was used by smugglers.

"We've had great success in stopping people coming to Australia by boat and for most of that time over the past year, that has seen a significant reduction of people moving into Indonesia," Mr Morrison said.

"In recent months, we've seen a change to that and that's because people think they can transit and sit in Indonesia and use that as a place to gain access to Australia."

Indonesia's foreign ministry said it would monitor the impact of the decision and would consider taking measures to protect Indonesia's interests.

The ministry's spokesman did not say what those measures might be.

Topics: refugees, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, indonesia, australia

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