Jennifer Hewett – The Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, has given his strongest backing yet to the controversial idea of Australia working with the Indonesian special forces unit Kopassus, despite concerns about its human rights abuses and possible links with some Islamic terrorist groups.

In the light of the Bali bombing and terrorist threats, Australia had to debate the issue seriously, Senator Hill said.

"I know some have just simply been dismissive," he said. "But Kopassus is the counter-terrorist capability in Indonesia and to defeat terrorists requires co-operation and mutual support."

It was possible to argue this sent "the wrong message in terms of the sort of values that we think underpin a civilised society", Senator Hill told Channel Ten yesterday.

"On the other hand, let's say there's an aircraft hijacking or something like that in Indonesia. It would be Kopassus that would be called in to address it."

A lot of Australians would agree to deal with Kopassus in such circumstances, he said, but it would be very difficult to build a relationship and understanding at the moment of crisis.

The Government has not dealt with Kopassus in recent years because of its human rights record. It is now a sensitive argument within the Government, with other ministers, such as the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, more circumspect.

Senator Hill's push will create political division. The Labor party is firmly against the prospect of co-operating with Kopassus. The Opposition's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said co-operation with Kopassus was simply "wrong".

Senator Hill insisted there was a good argument for it in terms of protecting Australians. But he did not repeat his earlier suggestion that Australia should consider joint operations with Kopassus on Indonesian soil, a proposal not welcome in Indonesia and quickly scotched by the Indonesian Government.

Instead, he said he was thinking only in terms of the Kopassus unit that had a counter-terrorism capability, and suggested it could involve Australian training in crisis handling.

"Basically it could be opening up our processes to them so they see how we address a crisis like that," Senator Hill said. "We've had the experience of our plans for the Olympics and for CHOGM, for example, and I think there's a lot they could learn from us in terms of effectively dealing with such a crisis. But we need to be able to talk with them to convey that message."

Apart from a long history of violence, support for militias in East Timor and claims that it was responsible for the assassination of the Papuan independence leader, Theys Eluay, Kopassus has been recently linked with past support for another Islamic Muslim extremist organisation, Laskar Jihad.

Mr Rudd said Senator Hill should explain why it was all right to work with Kopassus, which had an operational relationship with Laskar Jihad, in the fight against Jemaah Islamiah, believed to be behind the Bali bombings. "It doesn't add up," he said.