A group of Papuan asylum seekers being held in immigration detention on Australia's remote Christmas Island is expected to meet their lawyers for the first time this weekend. Despite being taken into custody nine days ago, the 36 adults and seven children, who left the Indonesian province in a canoe, are not allowed legal representation until immigration interviews have been completed. Fears have been raised that the Papuan's request for asylum will be hampered by an Australian government unwilling to upset neighbouring Indonesia.

Presenter/Interviewer: Di Martin

Speakers: Kerry Nettle Senator Australian Greens; Reverand Socratez Sofyan Yoman, Papuan Baptist minister; Liz Biok form the International Commission of Jurists; Dr Richard Chauvel, Papua expert Victoria University

Martin: Of the 43 Papuan asylum seekers who beached their outrigger canoe near Weipa last week, the single men have been sent to the Christmas Island centre, while families and unaccompanied children are staying at nearby immigration staff housing.

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle will fly to the remote island tomorrow to meet with the Papuans. Senator Nettle says she's concerned the group has been cut off from Australian community support, and says their isolation is a deliberate tactic.

Nettle: I think the government is seeking to hide the ugliness of its mandatory detention policy by removing these people from the Australian mainland where they can get support and assistance, legal, health support, where the media can engage with them, check that they are being treated well and transparently.

Martin: Two of the Papuans have been evacuated to Perth for medical treatment – a father and daughter believed to have tuberculosis. It's a detail immigration officials didn't volunteer, but confirmed when questioned.

The Papuans arrival is a sensitive issue for the department. The last thing immigration officials needed after a scandal tainted 12 months highlighting wrongful deportations and detentions, is a boatload of Papuans stirring up trouble in bilateral relations with Indonesia.

Departmental spokesperson Sandi Logan says all initial interviews with the 43 have now been completed. During initial interviews, Papuans need to request political asylum without legal representation, or be turned away. Mr Logan declined to detail how many claims of asylum have been made. But he says two Papuans have requested Indonesian consular assistance. He denied they had been pressured to do so.

Those of the 43 who have made a claim for asylum will now have access to lawyers to assist with protection visa applications. Those applications are supposed to be decided within 90 days.

Indonesian officials have made it clear if Australia grants asylum to any of the 43, it could harm bilateral relations. Which has led many observors to ask whether the Papuans will get a fair hearing. This is refugee lawyer Liz Biok, from the Australian chapter of the International Commision of Jurists.

Biok: Certainly the Indonesians have taken on this issue quite vehemently at the moment and I think now because of our commitment to assist Indonesia with security matters relating to transnational crime, to people smuggling, to anti-terrorism, the government will want to pursue that these people are perhaps going to be the thorn in the side of this negotiation

Martin: The other complicating factor for the Papuans is a security treaty in the last stages of negotiation between Australia and Indonesia. It's expected to include an Australian commitment to respect Indonesia's territorial integrity.

The Department of Immigration says any application for a protection visa will be decided on merit alone. But Liz Biok says there's compelling precedent to show how Australia's domestic political considerations can affect requests for asylum.

Biok: And a very telling comparison is what happened in early 1990s when there was a large group of East Timorese asylum seekers. At that time, Australia and Indonesia were negotiating a security agreement, and the government stopped processing the East Timorese asylum seekers on the grounds that they were all Portuguese. It was a totally pragmatic political decision. It had very little to do with refugee law.

Martin: When the 43 Papuans landed their outrigger canoe on Cape York Peninsula, it bore a large English language banner accusing Indonesia of acts of terrorism and genocide in the troubled province. There's been a long running Papuan independence push since the province was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969. Recent moves in both the American Congress, and the Dutch parliament have questioned the legality of that incorporation, bringing the Papuan question to new international prominence.

Amnesty International says at least 100,000 Papuans have died since Indonesia took control of the province. At least two international reports – one from Sydney University last year – question whether Indonesian authorities are pursuing genocidal policies in Papua.

The Indonesian government has angrily denied any claim of genocide in the province, and says it would safe for the 43 to return. But Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says she believes members of the group are related to prominent pro independence families, and they would be at risk if sent back.

Nettle: On this boat the next generation of leaders of the independence movement of West Papua, some of them are quite high profile. Their views are known and I think the recent shootings and protests we've seen in West Papua give Australia and the Australian government an indication of just how repressive the Indonesian military is being towards these West Papuan people.

Martin: Last week the Indonesian military opened fire on a group of protestors in the eastern Paniai district, killing 13 year old Mosez Douw.

Papuan pro independence campaigners say he's related to one of the 43 asylum seekers, and initially claimed he was killed because of the asylum request in Australia. Senator Nettle now says she doesn't believe the shooting is linked to the arrival of the 43 in Australia.

Outspoken Papuan Baptist minister, Reverand Socratez Sofyan Yoman, says the shooting prompted a rare political protest in the provincial capital of Jayapura this week, when 200 people converged on the parliament building.

Reverand Yoman says the military have again increased their numbers in the province and he fears reprisals for the protest and for the asylum requests in Australia.

Yoman: There is more military, more and more. We see them everywhere, in twons, coastal areas, and the interior.

Martin: Pro-independence activists point to the recent disappearance of Constant Nere to illustrate their concern. Nere was once a prominent Papuan independence figure who fled across the border into PNG 30 years ago His family say he went back to Indonesia for the first time last month, and has since disappeared. They fear he's been picked up by the Indonesian authorites.

Long time Papua watcher, Dr Richard Chauvel from Victoria University says the 43 Papuans on Christmas Island pose a far greater threat to Indonesian authorities than Constant Nere.

Chauvel: These 43 Papuans have caused Indonesian authorities very considerable embarrassment.

Martin: What would that mean for these people, if indeed, they are returned to the province? CHAUVEL: I think that their lives and their security would be in considerable danger.