The Australian upper house has supported a motion to urge for the International Red Cross to be granted full access to Indonesia's restive Papua province.

The motion, put forward by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Thursday morning, was supported by the country's Senate, including members of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government.

The Red Cross was forced to shut its office and leave Papua in April after it made visits to jailed separatists. At the time, Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that orders to close the office were connected to prison visits, but said the ban was because the Red Cross was operating in West Papua illegally.

Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told the Jakarta Globe in April that the agreements governing Red Cross operations in the country did not cover the troubled province.

Senator Hanson-Young said that it was vital for members of the Australian government to raise the issue with their Indonesian counterparts.

"The access to the region from the International Red Cross is paramount to ensuring that we have transparency," she said during an interview with Radio Australia on Friday.

"We know that the best way of achieving stability and peace in a region is to ensure that we have transparency. Its a request that various other countries have made to Indonesia and from much further away. The UK Parliament has moved a similar motion."

The Rudd government has been accused of being "too soft" with Indonesia on transparency and human rights in Papua province by some Australian opposition parties and activist groups.

The issue of alleged human rights abuses has long caused tension between the two nations. In 2006, the Australian government granted temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers, sparking a diplomatic furore over Australia's alleged lack of acceptance of Indonesia's sovereignty in the province.