Australia PNG joint border patrol

Australia PNG joint border patrol

Australia Network's Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney, a former veteran Papua New Guinea correspondent, has just been back to PNG - to a village he has never visited before.

Sean was invited to be part of a joint patrol to Sigabaduru village involving Australian Customs, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Queensland Police, Papua New Guinea Customs, PNG Immigration and PNG Police.

Here's his account of the journey:

The village of Sigabaduru is on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea's Western (or Fly River) Province and is less than three kilometres from the Australian island of Saibai. We went there in quite speedy tenders launched from a patrol boat, the Australian Customs Vessel Holdfast Bay. Unlike Saibai which has a wharf, electricity and running water, Sigabaduru - a village of 850 to 1,000 people - has no electricity, no running water and no wharf. That meant wading ashore.

Once on the beach Grant Smith, the Australian Federal Police officer who was in the team, handed over his gun to his PNG counterpart, a policewoman who held it until he was ready to return to Australian territory.

Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.

About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty. In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan. He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.

The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence. The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.

Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.

"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said. "Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."

The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.

"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.

"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."

There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so. He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.

One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side. Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat. One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.

I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.

"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.

"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.

"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.

"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."

Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.

Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty

Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.

About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty.
In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan.

He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.
The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence.

The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.
Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.
"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said.
"Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."

The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.
"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.
"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."


There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so.
He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.
The joint border patrols also keep a watch on illegal fishing.
One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side.
Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat.

One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.

I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.
"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.
"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.
"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.
"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."
Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.

Officials to send dead girl home in dinghy

A Papua New Guinean man whose daughter died in a Queensland hospital has been told by bureaucrats he will have to use a dinghy to get himself and his daughter's body home.

Petru Aniba made a mercy dash from his home village to the Torres Strait in February in the hope of saving his 14-year-old daughter Marthi, who was suffering tuberculosis.
She eventually died in Cairns Base Hospital. Her father too had tuberculosis and has only been released from quarantine.

Queensland Health officials said they would only fly the man and his dead daughter as far as the Torres Strait.
His friend Robert Slade says Mr Aniba travelled from his village to the Papua New Guinean township of Daru, and from there canoed to Saibai Island in the Torres Strait.
"Then from Saibai he was choppered to Thursday Island, then from Thursday Island he was flown down to the Cairns Base Hospital," Mr Slade said.

"Unfortunately, his daughter Marthi passed away on February 24 and then Aniba was put into isolation for a few months because of tuberculosis.
"He came out of isolation about, roughly, five weeks ago and has been waiting for him and his daughter to be able to be repatriated back home so he can bury his daughter.
"Queensland Health were prepared to send him and his daughter back to Saibai, but unfortunately from Saibai he would have to organise for his brother-in-law to bring a dinghy over from Daru to Saibai, which is an eight-hour journey in a dinghy and uses approximately 80 litres of fuel."
Mr Slade says Mr Aniba would have to take his daughter's body on board the dinghy without any refrigeration.

Outrage

The situation has outraged Warren Entsch, the Liberal MP for Leichhardt.
"How could we do this in this country?" he said.
"When this fellow basically takes a huge risk, he's seriously ill himself, comes across to our borders looking to try and save his 14-year-old daughter, as any parent would do, we say 'right, we'll dump him on Saibai and he can find his own way home and he can take the body of his daughter with him'.
"It is just heartless."
A Queensland Health spokeswoman says the department does have a policy of returning people to their point of entry.
Mr Entsch described that policy as "bloody bullshit".
"They know where he came from. That's a bit like saying 'all of these that are coming in illegally in the boats, well, we've only got to take them out and dump them back on Ashmore Reef'," he said.
Mr Entsch has launched an appeal to raise $15,000 in airfares for Mr Aniba.
But late Friday, Queensland Health released a statement saying it was prepared to provide whatever assistance was required to ensure Mr Aniba and his daughter's body were safely repatriated to their home village and that cost was not an issue.
Cairns District chief executive Julie Hartley-Jones said staff had met Mr Aniba on Thursday to discuss the best way to get him and his daughter home.
She said he asked to be flown to Saibai and for Queensland Health to provide fuel for the boat trip back to his home, which the department agreed to pay for.
However, she said Mr Aniba had since indicated he was reconsidering his options.
"Regardless of this, Queensland Health stands ready and willing to do everything possible to ensure Mr Petru and his daughter's body can be safely returned to their home village in PNG," she said.

Widespread dilemma

The case raises a more widespread dilemma in the Torres Strait.
Many PNG citizens are making the desperate trip to Australia for medical treatment, suffering from conditions such as tuberculosis, cholera and meningitis.
The tuberculosis clinic of Saibai is the only one in the Torres Strait but has run out of federal funding.
That has prompted an appeal from medical professionals like Professor Ian Wronski, James Cook University's head of medicine, who says tuberculosis is a re-emerging disease.
"Bit by bit it will re-establish in the Torres, it may well be there now," he said.
"Naturally people from PNG move it into the Torres Strait and people from the Torres Strait move it into the Cape, and we'll see tuberculosis re-establish itself in Australia."
Queensland Health Minister Geoff Wilson was not available to talk about the Aniba case but earlier addressed the issue of the tuberculosis clinics.
"Health services to PNG nationals are the responsibility of the Federal Government, but rest assured the Queensland Government's made its views well known to the Commonwealth," he said.
"Only as of yesterday, I spoke with Nicola Roxon about that at the conclusion of the Health Ministers Council there in Melbourne."

Tuberculosis (TB) services in the Torres Strait

Tuberculosis (TB) services in the Torres Strait

Dr Jeannette Young, Chief Health Officer, Queensland Health :

"The work that the Australian Government has done through AusAID in Papua New Guinea, specifically in the South Fly Province, has now reduced the risk to Queenslanders and indeed all Australians of contracting extremely drug-resistant TB.

A number of years ago, the Queensland Government made the decision to wind back the clinics that were being held in Saibai and Boigu, two small islands in the Torres Strait very close to Papua New Guinea.

"Those clinics were set up to provide services to Papua New Guinean nationals who had TB. They would come across the short gap of ocean, across to Australia to access these services. Unfortunately, we know that those types of services are not the best services to put in place for people with TB.

The best service you can offer someone with TB, particularly in a third world country, is the World Health Organization auspice service of DOTS -- direct observed treatment. The reason that is the best service is that then you can make sure that the patients are receiving their treatment every single day for the full course that is required. If that doesn't occur we know that there is a real risk that drug resistance can emerge. And indeed extremely drug resistant TB could emerge.

"So by putting in place a DOTS auspice program into PNG itself, you can reduce that risk. And that's the work that the Commonwealth Government has been doing through AusAID now for the last year.

They have been setting up treatment services within the villages and they've also enhanced the service that's available at Daru -- the referral hospital for that part of Papua New Guinea.

"They've put in place a sea ambulance to take patients to Daru if they've needed, but more importantly they have got services available in the actual villages where the people live. So they don't need to travel across the Strait, through to the Torres Strait to obtain services. In the past those services, although very well intentioned of course, meant that at some times people wouldn't be able to make the trip and would miss out on their drugs for that period and there would be issues with it.

"So now with the new process in place I am confident that we are reducing the risk to Australians from obtaining TB.

We have had very, very few cases over the years of TB within the Torres Strait itself. Torres Strait people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who live in those communities, of course can continue to access TB services as can any Queenslander. So I am confident all of these changes will actually reduce the risk to those people and to all Queenslanders.

Benefits of the Direct Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) for treating TB

"The World Health Organization recommends that wherever possible the DOTS program should be utilised -- direct observed treatment. That is where health workers actually monitor people taking their drugs every day during the treatment. Most sensitive TB regimes last around six months, so it's important that the people take the drugs every day for that six-month period and DOTS ensures that happens.

It's always much more difficult if you ask people to come to a clinic every six weeks or so, to pick up their medication because they mightn't be able to make the trip for whatever reason. Indeed we had some times when the border was closed and it was difficult for people to access the drugs. Also that they mightn't be aware of the importance of taking the drugs every single day if there isn't someone there to remind them. Which is why WHO recommends DOTS for all third world countries.

PAPUA MERDEKA - West Papua documentary

West Papua Film

This film shows; the extremely brutal history the native population of West Papua have endured for many decades under the oppressive Indonesian Military.

How, to this day they continue to struggle for independence from Indonesia, with historical pieces showing the UN Shame vote: Act of 'NO' Choice which lead to their colonisation and the continued thief, of the West Papuan's natural resources.

Filmed undercover in West Papua 2000/1 with historical footage obtained from various sources.

A film made by fPcN interCultural: www.fPcN-global.org/

Australia-PNG joint border patrols

Australia Network's Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney, a former veteran Papua New Guinea correspondent, has just been back to PNG - to a village he has never visited before.

Sean was invited to be part of a joint patrol to Sigabaduru village involving Australian Customs, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Queensland Police, Papua New Guinea Customs, PNG Immigration and PNG Police.

Here's his account of the journey:

The village of Sigabaduru is on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea's Western (or Fly River) Province and is less than three kilometres from the Australian island of Saibai.

We went there in quite speedy tenders launched from a patrol boat, the Australian Customs Vessel Holdfast Bay.

Unlike Saibai which has a wharf, electricity and running water, Sigabaduru - a village of 850 to 1,000 people - has no electricity, no running water and no wharf. That meant wading ashore.

Once on the beach Grant Smith, the Australian Federal Police officer who was in the team, handed over his gun to his PNG counterpart, a policewoman who held it until he was ready to return to Australian territory.

 An Australian Customs officer meets with children in a PNG village during the patrol
PHOTO: An Australian Customs officer meets with children in a PNG village during the patrol (ABC News: Sean Dorney)
Sigabaduru is one of the villages covered by the Australia PNG Treaty whereby PNG citizens are allowed traditional entry into a number of Australian islands in the Torres Strait, free from the need for visas.

About 50,000 visits are made to Australian islands like Saibai each year by Papua New Guineans covered by the Treaty.

In fact, the day before we crossed over to Sigabaduru I ran into one of the men from that village, Nope Nama, who was on a shopping trip to the supermarket at another Australian island just off the PNG mainland, Dauan.

He bought some rice, flour, sugar and fruit juice. He was back on the PNG mainland before nightfall.

The idea of the joint cross border patrols is to maintain relationships with the communities and the trips provide the authorities in both Australia and PNG with invaluable intelligence.

The local people on both sides of the border know each other extremely well and so the Torres Strait is not the easy access route to Australia by potential asylum seekers or others that one might assume.

Liam Daly, the Australian Customs and Border Security team leader for the Torres Strait, told a village meeting in Sigabaduru that the Australian agencies involved in the patrol had a variety of interests.

"We're interested into [sic] the movement of people into Australia, the movement of people out of Australia," he said.

"Things like drugs, guns, money movement - that kind of stuff."

 Australian Customs officials visit PNG village of Sigabaduru
PHOTO: A meeting of the crew from Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay with the people in the PNG village of Sigabaduru (ABC News: Sean Dorney)
The AFP's Grant Smith told the people how much Australia had appreciated information Papua New Guineans had provided in the past.

"I just want to say we really value the relationship we've established with your village here," he said.

"And because we're so close. PNG and Australia are so close here these Cross Border Patrols which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe."

There was one complaint from the other side. Koeget Salee, a retired school teacher from Sigabaduru, said that his people had assisted in reporting people trying to illegally enter Australia - but it was expensive for people in PNG to do so.

He said that if he was reporting some suspicious movement to Saibai, he had to make an international phone call on his mobile even though Saibai was in full view just there across the water.

The joint border patrols also keep a watch on illegal fishing.

One issue that I reported on quite extensively when I was the ABC's Port Moresby correspondent in the 1990s was the trade of guns from Australian to the Torres Strait and marijuana from the PNG side.

Although there was mention of it during the Sigabaduru village meeting, it appears the trade has declined somewhat.

One of the reasons, I was told, is that hydroponic marijuana grown in Australia has taken market share off the PNG Highlands grown variety.

 The Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay
PHOTO: The Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay (ABC: Sean Dorney)
I asked the Queensland Police officer in charge in the Torres Strait Patrol Group about the trade.

"I wouldn't say that it doesn't occur," Inspector David Lacey said.

"Certainly our intelligence indicates that it is not as prevalent as perhaps it was in the past. I think one of the reasons is our continued cross border patrols with our federal counterparts.

"We have a very good connection of networks on the islands these days with the Movement Monitoring Officers employed by the Federal Government attached to each of the outer islands.

"Also we have Torres Strait Islands Police Support Officers currently on the islands so that network of contacts, I think, significantly reduces the amount of activity that goes on, specifically with regards to large-scale importations."

Inspector Lacey said a big part of the Queensland Police job in the Torres Strait these days is to do with search and rescue operations because the waters on both sides of the border can be quite treacherous.

Border Patrol: Torres Strait edition

Border Patrol: Torres Strait edition

I gathered this report from ABC Australia reported by Sean Dorney reported this story on Sunday, November 17, 2013 07:01:00 

Download the Audio from this report!

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Some of the Australian islands in the Torres Strait might be only a few kilometres apart, but it's not as easy, as many think, to reach Australia from the north.

Last month, a group of indigenous Melanesians from Indonesia's West Papua province tried to enter Australia through the Torres Strait.

They never made it.

The seven West Papuans were reported by the people on the very first island they reached after transiting through Papua New Guinea's Western Province.

They were sent back to PNG and are now in a refugee camp near Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia.

Our correspondent Sean Dorney was invited by Australia's Customs and Border Security Service to join a cross border patrol in the Torres Strait.

SEAN DORNEY: On Thursday Island, I boarded the Australian Customs vessel Holdfast Bay for what turned out to be a relatively rough seven hour passage up through the islands of the Torres Strait to one of the three Australian populated islands just off the mainland of Papua New Guinea - Saibai.

One or two of the other non-crew members aboard looked decidedly seedy, but to my surprise, despite the constant heaving of the vessel, I did not get seasick.

Towards the late afternoon, we dropped anchor in the much calmer, narrow passage that separates Saibai from the PNG coastline.

The commanding officer of the Holdfast Bay is Andrew Flockhart.

ANDREW FLOCKHART: We're on patrol here for 22 days at a time. And we may be stationed in this area for perhaps 18 of those 22 days, depending on what activity has been detected in the area.

SEAN DORNEY: The next day, I hopped on one of the patrol boat's speedy tenders to check on the mangrove creeks that snake into Saibai Island. 

SCOTT CURRELL: We've been tasked to come and patrol Saibai Island.

SEAN DORNEY: Scott Currell, a Customs and Border Protection tactical officer.

SCOTT CURRELL: We've got lots of creeks up through here and in the past illegal foreign fishing boats have come here to seek refuge. 

SEAN DORNEY: The skipper of the tender on this trip was George Martin, a Thursday Islander, who knows these islands very well.

GEORGE MARTIN: You'd actually get people coming up here to do a bit of barramundi fishing and stuff like that. So a lot of the times it's probably a safe haven that they come up for, and also to hide out as well.

SEAN DORNEY: There were no illegal fishing boats in any of the mangrove creeks we navigated. But the main purpose of the patrol was a joint operation with Papua New Guinea Customs, Immigration and Police officers, and each morning there was a briefing at the Customs office on Saibai Island. 

LIAM DALY: We've got two helicopters going out. The first one's been moved forward slightly. They want us at the airport at 9.30 rather than at 10.30.

SEAN DORNEY: Liam Daly is the Customs and Border Security team leader in the Torres Strait.

LIAM DALY: Cross border patrols - they kicked off in 1997 and they're jointly run by Australian and PNG authorities. We also do some capacity building with Papua New Guinea authorities. We have the assets to get them to areas where they can't always get to. 

SEAN DORNEY: The international border in this region is complex. The three populated Australian islands are so close to Papua New Guinea that the normal rules of territorial waters don't apply. And a special treaty allows traditional visitation rights by the local indigenous people on both sides without the need for passports or visas.

About 50,000 visits are made each year by Papua New Guineans to the Australian islands. 

ROBINSON GIBUNA: We go daily for shopping and traditional visiting.

SEAN DORNEY: Robinson Gibuna, a pastor from the PNG village of Sigabaduru, said the links with Saibai and the other Australian islands go back thousands of years.

ROBINSON GIBUNA: We have the same clan system from long ago. That's the kind of bond or relationship that we have.

SEAN DORNEY: On another of the Australian islands, just a short boat ride from PNG, Dauan Island, I met Nope Nama, another PNG villager from Sigabaduru, who was buying sugar and fruit juice from the well stocked supermarket.

He headed back across the border before nightfall. And it is at night, anchored in that passage between Saibai Island and the PNG coastline, that you see the sharp contrast between life on either side of the border.

Saibai, to your right, has both electricity and running water, and its lights can be seen from a long way away. But over on your left, on the Papua New Guinea side, the large village of Sigabaduru with 850 to 1,000 residents has neither running water nor electricity. And at night its kerosene lamps can hardly be seen at all.

Sigabaduru doesn't have a jetty either, and the next morning, the team had to wade ashore.

The Australian Federal Police have no right to carry arms on the PNG side of the border, and on the beach the AFP officer handed over his weapon to his PNG counterpart ahead of a village meeting.

Liam Daly addressed the assembled Sigabaduru villagers.

LIAM DALY: I'll probably be on these patrols for the next few years - back to Sigabaduru - so I'd like to get to know everyone whilst I'm here. We're interested in the movement of people into Australia, movement of people out of Australia. Things like guns, drugs, money movement - that kind of stuff. 

SEAN DORNEY: The Australian Federal Policeman in the joint border patrol was Grant Smith.

GRANT SMITH: I just want to say that we really value the relationship that we've established with your village here. And because we're so close, PNG and Australia are so close here, these cross border patrols, which are led by Customs, it's really about us working together across that border so that both communities are safe.

SEAN DORNEY: Information from Sigabaduru has led to the detention of people trying to reach Australia, as a former school teacher, Koeget Salee, told the meeting.

KOEGET SALEE: Even the small ones, those who go and walk about in the saltwater, when they go and see a strange person they start running into the house or to the village saying, 'Hey, somebody strange is there!'

SEAN DORNEY: And that is what Robinson Gibuna, the pastor, had told me earlier.

ROBINSON GIBUNA: We know which people are from those islands and they know who we are. And any strange person trying to go across, trying to use our identity, will be caught easily. 

SEAN DORNEY: Nope Nama, the man from Sigabaduru I'd met doing his shopping on Dauan the previous day, told me of one case where, after the children had reported the presence of somebody dropped off in the mangroves, he had been handed him over to the local magistrate.

Liam Daly, the Customs and Border Security team leader, told me the visits were all about building up relationships.

LIAM DALY: The islands, the villagers, they know what's right and what's wrong in those communities. If people are looking to bring drugs through, we rely on them to provide that information. If someone's in their community who shouldn't be there, they'll notify people very quickly.

SEAN DORNEY: Some residents in the Torres Strait, like Bob Zylmans, who lives on Badu Island, say they'd like to see more border protection.

BOB ZYLMANS: They're doing a wonderful job up here, but they're, they're not thick enough; there's not enough of them.

You know, like, many Australian people don't realise that the New Guinea border is about two and half kilometres away. They don't realise that the Irian Jaya border is about 100 kilometres away and we're very susceptible here to all sorts of stuff coming into the country. And we honestly need more Customs boats up around the Torres Strait.

SEAN DORNEY: But on this international border at least, the authorities on both sides seem to agree on the need for cooperation.

This has been Sean Dorney for Correspondents Report.

Torres Strait Treaty

Torres Strait Treaty - Overview

The Treaty between Australia and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea concerning matters of sovereignty and maritime boundaries in the area known as the Torres Strait, and related matters, is commonly known as the "Torres Strait Treaty". The Treaty was signed in December 1978 and entered into force in February 1985. It defines the border between Australia and Papua New Guinea and provides a framework for the management of the common border area. Both Australia and Papua New Guinea have liaison officers, based respectively at Thursday Island and Daru, who consult regularly on the implementation of the Treaty at the local level.
As well as defining the maritime boundaries between Papua New Guinea and Australia, the Treaty protects the ways of life of traditional inhabitants in the Torres Strait Protected Zone (TSPZ). Subsidiary management arrangements for commercial fisheries in the Zone have also been put in place under the Treaty. The Treaty is recognised as one of the most creative solutions in international law to a boundary problem touching on the lives of traditional inhabitants.
Traditional inhabitants from Australia and Papua New Guinea, in consultation with their governments, have agreed on the names of 13 PNG villages to have Free Movement privileges under the Treaty. A formal note from Australia acknowledging the full list of PNG villages, which have traditional ties with the Torres Strait Islands in the Protected Zone was exchanged with Papua New Guinea on 28 June 2000. Papua New Guinea exchanged its note with Australia on 25 July 2000, thereby confirming the understanding with effect from that date. The list is:
(1) Sui (2) Parama (3) Katatai (4) Kadawa (5) Tureture (6) Old Mawatta (7) Mabadauan (8) Sigabaduru (9) Buzi/Ber (10) Tias (11) Mari (12) Jarai (13) Bula
The Governments also propose that the identification of these villages should not exclude the application of free movement provisions to traditional inhabitants of additional villages, if at some point in the future their inclusion is deemed appropriate by the traditional inhabitants of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The Treaty also has a major environmental protection dimension and was one of the earliest international agreements to reflect a greater environmental awareness. The environmental provisions of the Treaty are important for the well-being of the traditional inhabitants; for the preservation of the traditional and commercial fisheries; and for protection of the fragile Torres Strait environment for its own sake. A ten-year prohibition on mining and drilling in the Torres Strait Protected Zone was agreed in the Torres Strait Treaty which entered into force on 15 February 1985. In 2008 Australia and Papua New Guinea Ministers agreed to an indefinite moratorium on mining and drilling in the Protected Zone.
A range of Commonwealth agencies are involved in the implementation of the Treaty, including the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA), Australian Federal Police, the Australian Customs Service (including Border Protection Command), the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS), Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT). DFAT also has overall policy responsibility for the Treaty and coordinates the bilateral relationship with Papua New Guinea.

Consultative Mechanisms

There are a number of consultative mechanisms in place to progress the implementation of the Treaty.  These are:
• Traditional Inhabitants Meeting (TIM)
• Treaty Liaison Meeting (TLM)
• Joint Advisory Council (JAC)

 TRADITIONAL INHABITANTS' MEETING (TIM)

As part of the liaison arrangements under the Torres Strait Treaty, Article 18: 2(a), 3(a)+(b), and the government's obligation to keep Traditional Inhabitants informed of relevant developments in (and in the vicinity of) the Protected Zone, the Traditional Inhabitants Meeting (TIM) was formed. This is a forum for traditional inhabitants of both countries to discuss issues and activity in the region, and report concerns to government through their Treaty Liaison Officer.

TREATY LIAISON MEETING (TLM)

Treaty Liaison Meetings, chaired by the Torres Strait Treaty Liaison Officer and PNG Border Liaison Officer, are also conducted and attended by agencies involved in the implementation of the Treaty (Commonwealth, State and Local) represented in the region, together with a PNG delegation. Meetings are held alternately in Australia and PNG and its main purpose is to address issues raised at the TIM and other Treaty related matters such as free movement implementation, illegal activity, customs and police matters, health, environment, quarantine and fisheries.

JOINT ADVISORY COUNCIL (JAC)

The JAC was established under Article 19 of the Treaty as an advisory body of Australian and PNG officials, together with traditional inhabitant representatives. Meetings are held alternately in Australia and PNG. The functions of the JAC are to:
• seek solutions to problems arising at the local level that are not resolved by the Torres Strait Treaty Liaison Officer and the Papua New Guinea Border Officer located on Thursday Island and Daru respectively
• consider and make recommendations to the Parties on any developments or proposals which might affect the protection of the traditional way of life and livelihood of the traditional inhabitants, their free movement, performance of traditional activities and exercise of traditional customary rights
• review from time to time as necessary, and to report and to make recommendations to the Parties on any matters relevant to the effective implementation of this Treaty, including the provisions relating to the protection and preservation of the marine environment, and fauna and flora in and in the vicinity of the Protected Zone
In the exercise of its functions, the Council is required to ensure that the traditional inhabitants are consulted and given full and timely opportunity to comment on matters of concern to them, and that their views are conveyed in the Council's reports and recommendations. The Council is required to transmit its report and recommendations to the Foreign Ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea.