Rudd defends asylum seeker policy again

The prime minister has again been forced to defend his handling of the asylum seeker
issue as the government looks to strike a deal aimed at stemming the flow of Tamils
fleeing Sri Lanka for Australia.

As Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met with officials in Colombo on Monday, the prime
minister remained under pressure over his so-called "Indonesia solution".
The 78 asylum seekers aboard the Australian Customs vessel the Oceanic Viking are
still refusing to disembark in Indonesia, more than three weeks after arriving off
the island of Bintan.
The asylum seekers have threatened suicide if forced to disembark in Indonesia.
The 78 Tamils are believed to have been offered a deal that would fast-track their
resettlement and see them placed in community housing rather than detention while
their refugee claims are assessed.
But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday appeared to rule out Australia being a part
of any such deal.
"Let me be absolutely clear that policy of ours in the Australian national interest
will not be changed in response to any protests, any threats, any threats of harm,
and threats of self harm," Mr Rudd told reporters.
"We will take as long as it takes to resolve this matter and any other matters into
the future."
There have also been reports that authorities on the Oceanic Viking have used water
cannons in an attempt to stop media from approaching the vessel.
A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor could not confirm the reports.
The Rudd government does remain hopeful of striking an agreement with the Sri Lankan
government on a way to stem the flow of asylum seekers with Mr Smith meeting with
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, and other high ranking officials,
on Monday.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Australia was poised to provide Sri Lanka with
ongoing assistance to reconstruct the country after years of civil war.
"We've obviously provided a lot of aid already and the idea is to work with them to
ensure the Tamil people feel safe, so they are able to be moved out of those camps
and settle and rebuild their lives," he said.
Another group of 250 Tamil asylum seekers, moored in their boat at the port of Merak
in Indonesia, are also refusing to disembark, with 10 women in the group having
begun a hunger strike.
The move comes after the spokesman for the Tamils, known as Alex, confessed he was
once a member of a violent gang in Canada and was jailed for making death threats.
Alex - who the Sri Lankan foreign ministry has named as Kulaendrarajah Sanjeev -
said the 10 women, who began the fresh hunger strike on Monday morning, were growing
desperate.
"They would like to let the world know that they want a future for their children,"
Alex told AAP, adding others onboard were likely to join the hunger strike.
The Tamils, who were intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia on
October 11, have now spent four weeks moored in the Javanese port city.
They say they will come ashore after they meet with a representative of the UN High
Commission for Refugees but claim the Indonesian government is refusing to allow
such a meeting.
Most adults on board the boat took part in a hunger strike last month but abandoned
it after two days.
Alex again hit back at Sri Lankan government claims that he has worked as a people
smuggler, calling them "completely false".
The developments come amid mixed poll results for Mr Rudd in relation to the asylum
seeker issue.
A Newspoll, published on Monday, showed 53 per cent of people thought the government
was doing a bad job of handling the influx of asylum seekers.
But a Nielsen poll, also published on Monday, found Australians were more evenly
split with 45 per cent approving of Mr Rudd's handling of the issue.