Abbott phones SBY about MH17 tragedy

Tony Abbott has called Indonesia's president to offer the use of an Australian plane to repatriate the bodies of the nation's victims from flight MH17.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Australia has offered to repatriate the bodies of Indonesian victims of the MH17 crash. (AAP)

Australia has offered to repatriate the bodies of Indonesian victims of the MH17 crash, a spokesman for Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

Teuku Faizasyah, the president's spokesman on foreign affairs, on Friday evening tweeted the talking points of a warm phone call from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Mr Abbott offered Indonesia the use of an Australian plane to repatriate the remains of 12 Indonesian victims, however Dr Yudhoyono said arrangements had already been made with Garuda Indonesia.

He thanked Australia for its UN security council resolution on MH17, which Indonesia co-sponsored.

"President SBY thanked PM Abbott & expressed appreciation for this generous offer by Australia to help in any way," Mr Faizasyah tweeted.

On bilateral matters, Mr Abbott was said to have welcomed the progress made on a code of conduct to direct the future bilateral relationship after last year's spying scandal.

The leaders met in Batam, Indonesia, in June, and made significant progress towards reconciling before Dr Yudhoyono leaves office in October.

Jakarta governor Joko Widodo was this week named Indonesia's president-elect, and is likely to visit Australia in November for the G20 summit.

Dr Yudhoyono added that he believed Australia would host a successful G20, and that Indonesia's new president would attend and make a positive contribution.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world