A group of protesters has demonstrated outside the Indonesian consulate in Melbourne on the first day of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's Australian visit.

The protest was held to draw attention to the delay in the repatriation of East Timorese citizens being held in camps in West Timor since 1999. Four protesters from the Free Timor Campaign unfurled a banner that said "separate militia from hostages now" from the fifth floor of an abandoned office building overlooking the consulate in Queens Lane.

Against the backdrop of the banner, two of the protesters then re-enacted a scene of a balaclava-clad militiaman holding an East Timorese person hostage. The protesters also took their own "hostage" while shouting their demands from a third-floor balcony.

Free Timor Campaign spokeswoman Lenny Sky said the group was calling for the United Nations to be put in charge of a re-registration program for the East Timorese in West Timor. "I'd just like to send a message to Wahid that his government actually do something about getting the militia away from the hostages before re-registration begins," Ms Sky said. A police divisional van attended the scene but no action was taken against the protesters.