as posted here
Mark Dodd
October 23, 2009
Article from: The Australian
AUSTRALIA'S Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working behind the scenes with Indonesia, advising on secretive operations aimed at disrupting people-smuggling syndicates, a Senate estimates committee heard yesterday.
Disruption activities were discussed and co-ordinated from the Australian embassy in Jakarta, but DFAT officials were not directly involved in the operations, said Peter Woolcott, Australia's ambassador for people-smuggling issues.
"We have very close co-operation (with Indonesia) at a range of agency levels," Mr Woolcott said in response to questions from Liberal senator Eric Abetz.
Mr Woolcott confirmed the key role played by Australian Federal Police in countering people-smuggling.
A senior AFP officer, based at the Jakarta embassy, was liaising with a special Indonesian police counter-smuggling taskforce comprising 145 officers deployed in 12 unspecified locations across the country.
"We work with them (Indonesians) and obviously we help them enforce their laws," Mr Woolcott said. "We're keen to support their enforcement of their laws. And we do that through capacity building, through information and intelligence exchanges, through funding assistance. So, yes, we do facilitate in that way disruption activities but we (DFAT) have no operational capability."
The role of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service in disruption operations was not raised during the hearings.
Liberal senators tried repeatedly, without success, to get senior department officials to admit that the surge in asylum-seekers was linked to a softening of border protection measures.
DFAT deputy secretary David Ritchie's calm response proved too much for NSW Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.
"Don't play cute with me," she shouted across the table, to which Mr Ritchie replied: "Senator, I have been called many things, but never cute."
The committee heard that no conclusions had been reached on whether passengers on an asylum-seeker vessel, which sent out a distress signal off the Indonesian coast last week, had deliberately sabotaged their boat.
But Mr Woolcott said an initial report indicated the vessel's rudder was out of action and the crew had deserted the ship.
"Was that because it was about to blow up because of a petrol leak or because it was taking in water?" asked Senator Abetz.
"As I understand it, there were serious issues with the rudder and so they weren't able to steer it and as I understand it, and I stand to be corrected on this, there were no crew on board," Mr Woolcott replied.
Both Mr Ritchie and Mr Woolcott denied the Rudd government had agreed to pay Indonesian authorities a "price per head" for each asylum-seeker processed by Jakarta under a new co-operation deal between the two countries.
"We haven't actually sat down with the Indonesians yet to negotiate what this framework will look like and what forms our support will take.
"But I'm not aware of any consideration being given to a price per head," Mr Woolcott said.
as posted here
