The federal opposition says it does not believe rallies highlighting human rights abuses in Papua will lead to a further deterioration of relations with Indonesia.
There were protests yesterday in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney against alleged human rights abuses committed by the military in the Indonesian province.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, says he supports the right of people to protest and says he has raised similar cases of human rights abuses with the Indonesian Ambassador and will continue to do so.
But Mr Rudd says it is important to recognise Indonesia's sovereignty over the province.
"The bottom line is the only effective solution to this in the long term is to ensure that we have an effective autonomy package for west Papua with west Papua remaining part of the Indonesian republic."