Cath Hart – Labor has thrown its support behind Coalition moves to ensure the asylum system is not manipulated for international political purposes.

Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke yesterday offered support to the Government after revelations in The Australian last week that a group of 43 Papuans had manipulated the system.

"The federal Government is right to say that the reason for having a refugee system is for people to flee persecution – it's not there for people to make political statements," Mr Burke told ABC radio.

"The only question then should be whether or not people are genuinely fleeing persecution. And that determination ought to be made independently, and our relationship with other countries ought not to be part of a genuine independent process determining that somebody either has a well-founded fear of persecution or they don't."

The Australian revealed last week that the 43 Papuans who arrived in a dugout canoe in January, and were granted asylum on the grounds they faced repression from Indonesian authorities, had been selected to ensure their successful applications and create a precedent.

The granting of asylum to 42 of the Papuans in March triggered a diplomatic crisis in which Jakarta withdrew ambassador Hamzah Thayeb in protest.

Papuan activists have now signalled they are organising another boatload to make the trip to Australia.

But Mr Burke said attempts by Papuan activists to establish a beachhead for independence in Australia had backfired. "There's been a lot more speeches delivered in the parliament by each side of the parliament against Papuan separatism as a result of the last 43 applications," he said.

John Howard has vowed to closely scrutinise Papuan applications for asylum, and Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has hinted at other measures to be taken if the actions of the Papuan asylum-seekers are deemed not to be in Australia's national interest.

The Government unsuccessfully tried to amend the migration laws so all unauthorised boat arrivals were processed offshore in an effort to quell the diplomatic tensions.

Victorian backbencher Petro Georgiou yesterday defended his colleagues who joined him in crossing the floor of the House of Representatives in August to vote against the legislation.

But Queensland Liberal backbencher Cameron Thompson said he would raise the revival of the failed amendments with Senator Vanstone.