Press Conference – Parliament House, Canberra

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Press Conference – Parliament House, Canberra

Source: Government of Australia
Date: 13 Jan 2009

JOURNALIST: You’ve had a letter from the Australian West Papua Association regarding the 11 West Papuans who were jailed by Indonesian authorities for being at a demonstration where the West Papuan flag was raised. The lobbyists for the West Papuans are concerned that the very good relationship between Australia and Indonesia never sees the West Papua issue raised. Will you raise the issue?

SMITH: Well, first, I haven’t seen that letter, but I’ll make a point of ensuring that it’s drawn to my attention. That’s the first point.

Second point, it is not true that Australia and Indonesia do not discuss issues of Papua or West Papua. Indeed, not only do Foreign Minister Wirajuda and I, when we meet, discuss these matters privately, when we last did a joint press conference in Jakarta, we discussed them publicly.

So we continue to make the point, as we have in the course of our period in office, that we regard conditions in Papua and West Papua as being very important. We believe that the current Indonesian government, with its view of greater autonomy for both those provinces, is the correct and appropriate way to go.

So the implication or the assessment forming the basis of your question is not correct and I’ll certainly search out the letter that you’ve referred to.

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