Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

No Australian aid money is being used to oppress the Papuan people. The allegation is wrong; it is based on fallacious propaganda. Not even proponents of Papuan independence subscribe to this view. The Australian government agrees with the Indonesian president, President Yudhoyono, that full implementation of special autonomy is the best way to deliver durable peace and security for the people of Papua. Australia recognises the territorial integrity of Indonesia through the 2006 Lombok Treaty. We do not see special autonomy as a step towards Papuan independence.

Contrary to Senator Madigan's allegations, Australians should all be proud that our aid to Indonesia is improving school quality by building 2,000 junior secondary schools, training midwives so that more than 40,000 births can be attended and delivering an extra 9,000 sewerage connections in communities without access to water or sanitation. This aid will establish 300,000 new secondary school enrolments by 2016. Some 20,000 people in Papua and West Papua will receive HIV treatment through our aid program. Even Senator Madigan should acknowledge that the quickest way out of poverty is access to education and good health services. Let me be very clear: the Australian position, under governments of different persuasion, has been that Indonesian sovereignty in the provinces of West Papua is absolute and uncontested, and only reckless Australians would argue for any other proposition. Only reckless, unthinking Australians would defy this country's national interests and urge the dismemberment of Indonesia. That is an appalling thing to do. It takes no account of this country's interests or of the interests and welfare of the people of Indonesia or of those in Papua.