Tony Abbott rules out resettling Rohingyas in Australia, Indonesia says it is obliged to

Updated

Australia is obliged to resettle Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, Indonesia's foreign ministry says, despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott flatly refusing to consider the option.

International migration observers estimate there are thousands of people at sea in South-East Asia attempting to flee persecution or poverty, including at least 2,000 people trapped for more than 40 days on boats off Myanmar without food or water.

Yesterday Malaysia and Indonesia bowed to international pressure and said they would no longer turn away migrant boats, offering instead to take in a wave of asylum seekers provided they can be resettled or repatriated within a year.

They want other countries to help with resettlement but Mr Abbott said those seeking a better life needed to come through the "front door".

He said while Australia stood ready to assist in other ways, there was no way any of those fleeing would be allowed to settle in Australia.

"Nope, nope, nope," he said, shaking his head.

"If we do the slightest thing to encourage people to get on boats this problem will get worse, not better.

"Australia will do absolutely nothing that gives any encouragement to anyone to think that they can get on a boat, that they can work with people smugglers to start a new life.

"If you want a better life, you need to come through the front door.

"Our role is to make it absolutely crystal clear that if you get on a leaky boat, you aren't going to get what you want."

But Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman, Arrmantha Nasir, said Australia was obliged to help as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention.

'Burma is the culprit'

Mr Abbott last week refused to criticise Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia for turning away boats — a situation the UN described as "maritime ping-pong".

Today he said that the issue was primarily a South-East Asian one.

"This is quite properly a regional responsibility and the countries that will have to take the bulk of the responsibility are obviously the countries which are closest to the problem," he said.

He singled out Myanmar, also known as Burma — where many Rohingya live in camps, denied statehood — as the root source of the problem.

"In the end the culprit is Burma, it is Burma where there is an issue," he said.

Australia's former ambassador to Myanmar said a political approach needed to be taken to address the number of people fleeing countries in the region.

Australia can show leadership and compassion, just as it did after the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Vietnam war, by authorising special intake of refugees fleeing war and persecution. Richard Di Natale, leader of the Australian Greens

Christopher Lamb said the international community needed to work with authorities to understand why people are seeking asylum.

"We need somebody who's politically engaged, who's able to bring back advice to Tony Abbott and the Government about what they need to do to support activities that help stop people needing to travel," he told Radio National.

Mr Abbott said Australia was willing to help in other ways, noting that Australia yesterday provided additional assistance to Myanmar.

"Australia has always been a good international citizen, we want to be a good neighbour to friends and partners," he said.

"If asked to help, we're happy to do so."

A total of $6 million will go towards funding humanitarian projects in the Rakhine state, where many Rohingya live.

'Australia should welcome them with open arms'

The Greens have called for Australia to "show leadership and compassion" by resettling some of the asylum seekers.

"Instead of turning our backs and turning back the boats we should welcome these people with open arms," Greens leader Richard Di Natale said.

"Australia can show leadership and compassion, just as it did after the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Vietnam War, by authorising special intake of refugees fleeing war and persecution."

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, who visited Rohingya camps while he was immigration minister, said resettling them on a large scale would be impossible.

"Remember, there's a million-plus Rohingya in Myanmar," he said.

"No country is going to be resettling 1 million Rohingya, so to suggest again that resettlement is the answer to this issue I think completely fails to understand the scale and complexity of this issue.

"This is an issue that ASEAN [The Association of South-East Asian Nations] and particularly Myanmar need to drive the solutions for.

"We can work with them on that ... but the idea of Australia dictating to ASEAN and to Myanmar itself how this issue is to be managed I don't think would be helpful."

Topics: immigration, government-and-politics, refugees, myanmar, australia, malaysia, indonesia, thailand

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