Indonesia, Australia discuss prisoner exchange proposal

Schapelle Corby

Australia and Indonesia are expected to agree to finalise a prisoner exchange arrangement by September.

Australian Foreign Minster, Alexander Downer and Indonesian Law Minister Hamid Awaluddin are discussing the deal in Bali.

However, it is possible the deal will not assist any Australians currently in Indonesian jails.

Dr Awaluddin says that death-row drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, are unlikely to benefit.

He says there is a problem with those cases because Australia doesn't have the death penalty.

Other Bali Nine members and Schapelle Corby will only benefit if the law is retrospective.

Eight men and one woman - known as the Bali Nine - were arrested on the island of Bali in April last year for attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from the island to Australia.

Schapelle Corby, 27, is serving a 20-year jail sentence for smuggling more than four kilograms of marijuana into Bali.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA