Australia said on Saturday it will take a boatload of asylum-seekers at the centre of a high-seas stand-off with Indonesia to its Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island.
Australia had requested Indonesia take the group of about 60 people who were picked up by an Australian vessel south of Java on Thursday but Indonesian officials had so far failed to agree to this.
“The Indonesian Government has advised Australian officials overnight that they are reviewing the request put forward by Australia,” Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.
“While we welcome Indonesia’s review of our request, in the best interests of the safety of the passengers and crew of the rescued vessel and the Australian vessel that has been rendering assistance, earlier this morning I requested Lieutenant General (Angus) Campbell to transfer the persons rescued... to Christmas Island.”
We have good relations with Indonesia, good and improving relations, but we will stop these boats
Morrison said they would then be rapidly transferred to camps on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island or the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru, in line with Australia’s hardline policy on asylum-seekers arriving by boat.