"We very much appreciated the Indonesian authorities for eradicating human smuggling," Australian ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty said in his press release here Monday night.
He said his government has a commitment to eradicate human smuggling especially for business motives.
"We are firmly determined to destroy this kind of business of human smuggling," he said.
In the press release, the Australian embassy in Jakarta also cited a statement of Australian Home Minister Brendan O`connor on a new agreement on asylum seekers.
He said that the first asylum seekers who had been intercepted since the announcement of the new transfer regulation between Australia and Malaysia when on their way to Christmas Island pending their dispatch to another country.
"The new ruling reached under the framework of cooperation in the area will contribute to the human smugglers losing their business, and prevent dangerous sea travel by asylum seekers," he said.
He said that 32 asylum seekers who had been intercepted off the Scott Reef coast on Saturday (May 14) will have to deal with the law, and the Australian government has issued an immigration arrest policy on Christmas island pending their transfer to another country.
The Australian government has reaffirmed its message to people planning to smuggle people and asylum seekers that Australia had been closed to illegal immigrants.
Asylum seekers who had been transferred from Australia must wait for their turn for processing by the UNHCR. "If you are really a refugee, there is no guarantee that you will be sent to Australia. You may be accepted by another country who is willing to accept refugees," he said.
(T.M038/H-NG/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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