Questions raised over maritime responsibility

On Monday, Human Rights Watch released its report into the alleged abuse of asylum seeker children in Indonesia's detention centres.

And an inquest is continuing in Perth into the deaths of 90 refugees who died after their boat capsized last June.

The inquest is raising questions about Indonesia and Australia's responses to asylum seeker boats.

All this has loomed large over strategic talks in Melbourne at this year's Australia and Indonesia Dialogue.

Key figures from the talks say the issue is causing bilateral friction and won't be addressed without a complete rewrite of current asylum policies.

The talks bring together academics and policy makers from both sides of the Timor Sea.

Gathering in Melbourne at the Australia and Indonesia Dialogue, together they address some of the region's big issues.

Among the biggest are population movements and security.

The Chair of the strategic talks, Professor Alberto Gomez, gives a grim assessment of where Australia is at.

Professor Gomez says current approaches are too politicised and says that is hindering effective cooperation with Indonesia.

He believes both sides of Australian politics have got it wrong.

"You find that in many cases these issues become politicised. And once they become polticised, particularly when we are facing an election in this country, it begins to damage the relations that we have with countries in the region and in this case, particularly with Indonesia."

Deakin University's Damien Kingsbury says current approaches are too reactionary.

From Labor's renewed Pacific Solution to the Coalition's policy to to turn back the boats - he says Indonesia hasn't been effectively involved and that is is bogging down co-operation.

"Frankly the whole issue has been mishandled. It shouldn't have been as politicised as it has been and what we have now is a very ad hoc response which I think is dishonest in the way it addresses the issue. We need to work on it as part of a regional solution as part of a shared problem not as a part of a problem perceived in Australia that's being pushed back on our neighbours in particular Indonesia."

Both Alberto Gomez and Damien Kingsbury say current approaches to policy are raising many tensions around questions of maritime governance.

They agree the Siev 358 disaster, in which 90 asylum seekers died last year, suggests frictions over shared responsibility.

An inquest this week has raised questions over the passing of responsibility among Australian and Indonesian maritime authorities in the incident.

The inquest has heard Australian authorities made an assessment that the vessel was not in distress, before handing responsibility to Indonesian authorities, deeming the the boat to be in Indonesian waters.

Australia's Rescue Co-ordination Centre deemed calls for help from the boat to be normal refugee patter.

An Australian surveillance aircraft later spotted the overturned boat, with many passengers overboard, two days after the initial calls.

Professor Purwo Santoso is head of politics at Jakarta's Gadja Mada university and a delegate at the Australia and Indonesia Dialogue.

He says effective maritime governance will need more collaboration to avoid such disasters.

"We need to go deeper on maritime governance actually. The willingness to discuss is what's really at stake and you have to put the maritime governance in the broader picture of the Indonesia and Australia relationship."

Professor Kingsbury says Australia cannot rely on Indonesia to resolve Australia's border security issues.

"That does require dialogue and discussion and negotiations, not just simply Australia saying to Indonesia we don't like this, we want you to control it, or to take the lead in controlling it."

Professor Santoso agrees Australia needs to take more responsibility.

"The problem is on the Australian side. I think more responsibility on the Australia side are still needed because basically Indonesia is like a route path to go to Australia."

Professor Kingsbury believes no progress will be made until there are genuine moves to treat the issue as a regional one.

He says the debate needs to be taken out of the domestic realm of election campaigning.

"There are some critical issues to be addressed and again it's part of a regional solution in which all parties need to paricipate and work cooperatively to lift the regional response. Australia needs to contribute more, we need to be a more active and positive partner with our regional partners, particularly Indonesia."