The opposition has called on the federal government to release the details of its proposal for a regional processing centre in East Timor.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Refugees from the Aceh conflict era admitted to having been intimidated by "anti-relocation" figures, saying that threats had deterred them from moving from a p

A High Court judgment has raised questions over whether the government can successfully process refugee claims quickly and efficiently, Acting Prime Minister Chris Evans says.

Erwida Maulia and Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Gillard vowed to strengthen economic, political and security ties, and agreed to work together in handli

Bernard Lagan in New York and Yuko Narushima – East Timor has declared it does not want to become a mere transit point for boat people picked up in Australian waters.

Kupang – After taking refuge for 11 years at Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, following the 1999 referendum, 24 people returned to Timor Leste, facilitated by CIS Timor and the Care fo

Julian Drape – Australia will pay a "significant proportion" of the cost of building a refugee processing centre in East Timor, a senior government official says.

Kirsty Needham – East Timorese and Australian officials will develop jointly a proposal for a refugee processing centre to be put to both governments by early 2011, Immigration Minister

Dili – East Timor has many problems of its own and is not ready to accept thousands of asylum seekers under an Australian plan to build a refugee hub in the tiny country, a lawmaker sai

Karlis Salna – Prime Minister Julia Gillard's vision for a regional refugee processing hub has been dealt a blow with East Timor's President insisting it will only be considered as a te

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Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says he won't return from East Timor this week with a final deal to address people smuggling and the offshore processing of asylum seekers.

Bernard Lagan – East Timor has declared it does not want to become a mere transit point for boat people picked up in Australian waters.

Mark Dodd – East Timor wants Julia Gillard's proposal for an asylum-seeker processing centre linked to better co-operation with Canberra on maritime security.

Katharine Murphy and Yuko Narushima – Immigration Minister Chris Bowen will head to East Timor to revive plans for an offshore immigration processing facility following talks between Ju

East Timor's foreign minister says setting up a regional asylum seeker processing centre is not a simple bilateral matter for his country and Australia to decide.

Yuko Narushima – East Timor has refused to be party to humanitarian "trade-offs" in order to satisfy Australia's search for a country to detain asylum seekers.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor has rebuffed Julia Gillard over her plan to build a regional processing centre for asylum seekers there, referring the negotiations to a 50-nation meeting o

Paul Toohey – Attempts by Julia Gillard to get moving on her proposed asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor have come at a bad time for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who is pres

Daniel Flitton – Julia Gillard's plan to turn East Timor into a regional hub to process refugee claims has been boosted after the government in Dili identified a possible site in the co

East Timor says it will go ahead with a planned four billion dollar oil and gas hub on its southern coast whether Woodside Petroleum commits to onshore gas processing or not.

Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday he was waiting for the new Australian government to be installed before talks about a regional refugee centre could "re-op

Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday his country had "no plans" to build a detention centre for asylum seekers as proposed by Australia, but remained open to d

The Australian Government's proposal to develop a regional processing centre for asylum seekers East Timor looks more shaky by the day.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Australia might be asked to fund detention centres in Indonesia to help Jakarta deter asylum-seekers from using the nation as a staging point.

Mark Dodd – Negotiations for an offshore refugee processing centre in East Timor appear to have stalled.

Indonesia appears lukewarm on Australia's plan to build a regional asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor.

East Timorese Deputy Prime Minister Mario Viegas Carrascalao yesterday rejected an Australian proposal to process asylum-seekers.

Talek Harris, Sydney – Australia said on Tuesday it remained in talks with East Timor over a regional asylum seeker center despite a rejection by the tiny country's Parliament, which de

Nelson da Cruz, Dili – Timor's parliament voted Monday to reject an Australian proposal for the impoverished country to become a regional refugee processing centre for Australian-bound

Australian officials will travel to East Timor this week to continue discussing plans for a regional asylum processing centre.

Sydney – Australia's new prime minister Julia Gillard on Friday talked up her plan for a regional refugee centre to tackle people smuggling but backed away from suggestions it should be

Sara Everingham, Dili – Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan to send asylum seekers to a regional processing centre in East Timor is running into increasing opposition from the country's

Dili, East Timor – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said Thursday his government was open to discussing Australia's proposal to process Australia-bound asylum seekers in the impo

Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific editor – The East Timorese President, Jose Ramos-Horta, is "sympathetic" to the Australian Prime Minister's request to set up a processing centre for asylu

Rohan Sullivan, Sydney – East Timor's president said Wednesday he supports in principle an Australian plan to turn his country into a regional center for processing asylum seekers but d

Stephen Fitzpatrick in Jakarta and Paul Cleary – East Timor MP Jose Teixeira was thoroughly perplexed yesterday by Julia Gillard's announcement of plans for an asylum-seeker processing

Karlis Salna – Julia Gillard has flagged offshore refugee processing through East Timor as she seeks to reposition Labor on the asylum seeker issue ahead of the federal election.

Rohan Sullivan, Sydney – Australia's new leader proposed Tuesday to stop an influx of asylum seeker boats by making East Timor a hub for processing UN refugee claims for people fleeing

Sara Everingham, Kerri Ritchie and staff – East Timor's deputy prime minister says his country does not have the capacity to set up a regional processing centre for asylum seekers.

Stephen Fitzpatrick – Indonesia warned yesterday that Jakarta would not allow itself to become a refugee processing centre for Australia.

Jakarta – The handling of foreign refugees that enter Indonesia, which are often referred to as illegal immigrants, is still of concern.

Australia's government says it's seeking more information about claims of poor conditions and ill treatment of asylum seekers – including the use of a stun gun – at Indonesia's Tanjung

On 14 June 2010, East Timor community figure Joao Quintao (57), a retired Indonesian military senior sergeant, said that the thousands of refugees from East Timor living in refugee sett

Jakarta – Some asylum seekers in an Indonesian detention center are on a hunger strike, saying immigration officials use stun guns and threaten to kill them.

Kerri Ritchie – Sri Lankan asylum seekers who were removed from an Indonesian port earlier this week say they are now being kept in cramped conditions in a detention centre which is lik

Tom Allard, Merak – It was a desperate final plea, sad and futile.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – A six-month asylum-seeker deadlock in Indonesia has finally been broken, with more than 200 Tamils agreeing to be taken from their makeshift dockside camp

Indonesia says Australia's decision to stop processing asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will be "positive" for the region's fight against trafficking.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The six-month impasse between Indonesian authorities and a group of about 240 asylum seekers who refused to leave their boat in the port of Merak appears to be end