Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss defends Navy amid claims asylum seekers beaten and burned

Updated

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss has defended the Australian Navy over claims asylum seekers were beaten and told to hold on to parts of a hot engine on a boat being towed back to Indonesia.

The claims of physical abuse come amid warnings that Australia risks sea-going clashes with Indonesia over asylum policy, and the admission that Australian ships have entered Indonesian waters without permission.

ABC News has obtained video footage of asylum seekers receiving medical assessments of burns that Indonesian police say were inflicted by the Australian Navy.

Indonesian police say they had to get treatment for 10 asylum seekers, seven of whom had severe burns on their hands after they were picked up in Indonesian waters on January 6.

Mr Truss says he is confident Defence Force personnel acted responsibly.

"I regret the fact that some asylum seekers seem to have been injured but who knows under what circumstances that injury happened," he said

"The Defence Force, as a routine, looks at its operations from day to day. I am confident that they have behaved responsibly and appropriately."

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison earlier issued a statement rejecting the asylum seekers' claims.

Asylum seekers' burns from hot pipes: Indonesian police

Indonesian police say the asylum seekers suffered burns when Navy personnel forced them to hold onto hot pipes coming out of the boat's engine.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Asylum seekers allege physical abuse by Navy (ABC News)

Boat passenger Merke Abdullah Ahmed, from Somalia, claims Australian Navy personnel punched some passengers and others were forced to hold onto the hot metal.

"They physically harmed us. Some of the passengers onboard, they tried to complain and speak about just their problems. They just punched [them] ... and, you know, fall down on the ground," he said.

Mr Morrison released a statement this morning, saying he would not confirm specific operations but, "the Government rejects any allegation of inappropriate behaviour by our Navy or customs and border protection personnel in the conduct of their duties".

"Smugglers and their clients have strong motivations for seeking to discredit the activities of Australia's border protection operations in an attempt to undermine public support for the Government's strong border policies."

Earlier this month, Mr Morrison confirmed Australian sailors were no longer personally liable for what is done under Operation Sovereign Borders.

Territorial breaches 'unlikely unintentional'

Meanwhile, a former Indonesian general and current member of Indonesia's foreign affairs commission says it is impossible that Australian Navy ships ended up in Indonesian waters without intending to, as Mr Morrison and his border protection chief have claimed.

Mr Morrison said in a briefing last Friday that the Australian Government had apologised to Indonesia after admitting vessels operating under its border protection policy had "inadvertently" breached Indonesian territorial sovereignty "on several occasions".

He said he was told last Wednesday that "border protection command assets had in the conduct of maritime operations associated with Operation Sovereign Borders inadvertently entered Indonesian territorial waters on several occasions" and blamed the incursions on "positional errors".

An inquiry into the incident has been given three weeks to report back.

Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders, said that although an investigation had been launched into the breaches, he was confident they were unintentional.

"I believe our people were acting in good faith at all times," he said of the incursions, adding that the agencies involved in Operation Sovereign Borders regretted "any affront to Indonesia these events may have caused".

However, Tubagus Hasanuddin said experience and training told him that the incursions were unlikely to have been unintentional.

"I studied in Australia - in the military academy. The Australian Navy doesn't have wooden boats, they have warships equipped with modern technology," he said.

"They should have known which part of the water is Indonesia and which is not."

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Morrison apologises after border protection vessels entered into Indonesian waters (ABC News)

The Indonesian government is yet to say if it has accepted Australia's apology for the incursions, but it has sent four navy ships to patrol its maritime borders to the south.

The retired general says if Australia keeps forcing asylum seeker boats into Indonesian waters, it risks meeting the Indonesian navy head to head on the high seas.

"In my opinion, this will result in tension between nations," he said.

"And it's not impossible a clash between Indonesia and Australia national forces, and I believe that this needs to be avoided. It can't happen.

"So it's better that Abbott meets again with president (Yudhoyono) and sit together to find the best solution."

EDITOR'S NOTE (4 February 2014): ABC News has issued a note about aspects of this coverage: https://about.abc.net.au/press-releases/abc-statement/

Topics: navy, immigration, world-politics, security-intelligence, indonesia, australia

First posted