Katharine Murphy – The Greens have sought explicit assurances from senior Indonesian officials in Australia about the safety and wellbeing of three West Papuan students who occupied the Australian consulate in Bali in protest early on Sunday morning.
The Greens senator Richard di Natale spoke to the first secretary at the Indonesian embassy in Australia, Mulyana Esa, on Tuesday afternoon inquiring whether a warrant had or will be been issued for the arrest of the West Papuan students.
Di Natale, who co-chairs a multi-party parliamentary friendship group on West Papua, also asked the Indonesians to provide assurances about the safety of the activists involved in Sunday's protest in Bali.
The first secretary provided no immediate assurances but undertook to seek advice and come back to di Natale with any particulars.
The Greens senator is also flagging that he will move a motion in the senate requesting documents relating to Sunday's incident if the government fails to clear up conflicting reports about whether Australian officials in Bali threatened to call the police or the military to remove the activists from the compound.
Two other kingmakers in the senate – the Democratic Labor Party senator John Madigan, and South Australian independent Nick Xenophon – have expressed concern about the wellbeing of the West Papuan activists given concerns about human rights abuses in the troubled Indonesian-controlled province. Madigan has suggested the activists should be granted asylum in Australia, given the vexed history of West Papua.
"Given that the lives of three West Papuans were potentially put at risk by the actions of the Australian consulate over the weekend, it's crucial that we get to the bottom of conflicting reports about what actually took place," said Di Natale on Tuesday.
"One of the West Papuans has claimed on ABC radio that the consulate threatened to call in the Indonesian authorities, an action that would likely have resulted in his imprisonment and possible torture," he said.
"This claim has been supported by Dr Clinton Fernandez, a respected academic and expert on the region, and by sources in Indonesia who claim to have overheard what happened over an open phone line."
The Abbott government says the activists left the Australian consulate voluntarily. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has denied that the Australian consul general threatened to call in the Indonesian military and police.
The prime minister Tony Abbott has also been implicitly critical of the West Papuan protest.
"Australia will not give people a platform to grandstand against Indonesia," Abbott told reporters covering the Apec summit in Bali on Monday.
"We have a very strong relationship with Indonesia. We are not going to give people a platform to grandstand against Indonesia. I want that to be absolutely crystal clear."
In a clear rebuff to any separatist sentiment, Abbott also remarked that "the people of West Papua are much better off as part of a strong, dynamic and increasingly prosperous Indonesia".
The newly elected prime minister has been looking to mend diplomatic fences in Jakarta after tensions between the two governments over the Coalition's policies on boat turn-backs and people smuggling.