PM defends East Timor plan

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended her regional vision for combating people
smuggling amid claims corrupt officials in Indonesia are involved in arranging
passage for asylum seekers to Australia.
The Indonesian government has launched an investigation into the allegations that
high-ranking elements within the country's immigration department, police force and
armed forces routinely take bribes from people smugglers.
Ms Gillard on Tuesday insisted she remained committed to establishing a regional
refugee processing hub in East Timor, despite the corruption claims threatening to
undermine the plan.
"I stand for stopping the boats before they leave foreign shores," Ms Gillard said.
"Now this is going to take dialogue, I've never said it would be a quick fix. We're
going to have that dialogue with East Timor. That dialogue has started now."
The comments came after it was revealed in an investigation by ABC TV's Four Corners
program that people smugglers commonly bribe corrupt army officers in Indonesia,
with payments in excess of $20,000, to secure passage for their boats.
One senior army officer was caught on camera discussing a payment of $500,000 for
arranging a boat to Australia.
Indonesia's recently retired director of immigration enforcement, Muchdor, is
accused of taking bribes in order to secure the release of asylum seekers from
detention.
Immigration department chief Muhammad Indra on Tuesday said he had formed a five-man
team to investigate the corruption allegations.
"We need to investigate this because we don't want to be undermined," Mr Indra told
AAP on Tuesday.
"But it's a long process, we still have to gather evidence."
A spokesman for the Indonesian military said he would look into the allegations. A
police spokesman could not be contacted.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said it would "regretful" if
the claims were true.
"We certainly will have to deal with any misconduct of these rotten eggs," he said.
"If they [the documentary team] are willing to share evidence with the authorities
in Indonesia certainly we will take steps to deal with this kind of problem."
Two of the people smugglers featured in the investigation also claim to have been
granted refugee status and are trying to resettle in Australia.
Both Abdul Khozer and Rahim Al Jenabi claim they have been rated as refugees by the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the revelations showed that the
integrity of Australia's visa process needed to be improved.
"You've got to boost up the integrity of the checking process ... we've got people
smugglers getting through," he told ABC Radio.
Mr Morrison said cracking down on people smugglers was vital.
The opposition maintains there has been a surge in asylum seekers arriving in
Australia because Labor relaxed the former Howard government's border protection
regime.