Breathing space for boat-people

CANBERRA - Australia has been given breathing space in the crisis aboard its Customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking, held for three weeks in the western Java port of Merak by the refusal of Tamil asylum-seekers to disembark.

Indonesia has softened its previous hard line and said it will allow the ship to remain beyond today's departure deadline.

The decision came as details emerged of the deal being offered to the 78 asylum-seekers, who were rescued in Indonesian waters by the Oceanic Viking and have so far rebuffed Australian negotiators.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans told ABC radio yesterday that the deal, first offered last week, was intended to reassure the Tamils about their treatment and future once they leave the ship.

The deal promises that those already deemed to be refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would be resettled within four to six weeks.

Others who have registered with the UNHCR would be helped with their processing by Australian officials. If deemed to be refugees, they would be resettled within 12 weeks of leaving the Oceanic Viking, although not necessarily in Australia.

They would be assured contact with their families, and be given access to housing assistance, medical care, income support, English language tuition, counselling and help in finding work in their country of resettlement.

But the offer has run against the asylum- seekers' refusal to be held in an Indonesian detention camp during processing, rather than be allowed community housing. Jakarta has insisted they be held in the centre.

While the letter of offer said negotiations over accommodation had not been completed, Evans told the ABC it would be appropriate to house some of the asylum-seekers in the Australian-funded centre.

"Clearly their preference - or the preference of most of them - would be obviously for the most comfortable accommodation ... the detention centre is a modern one," he said.

"It is probably the best one in Indonesia [and] we think it is appropriate for certain clients to be accommodated there."

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that Canberra was considering accepting more Sri Lankans to reduce the incentive to risk an ocean voyage with people-smugglers.

Australia and Sri Lanka have already signed a memorandum of understanding outlining co-operation in tougher measures against people-smuggling, and Canberra will provide A$11 million ($13.3 million) to help resettlement and improve living conditions after the end of the civil war.

The newspaper said Australia would consider using existing migration programmes to accommodate more migrants who qualified under the present rules.