West Papuan Refugees in Australia marked the anniversary of the 1962 diplomatic agreement which incorporated West Papua into Indonesia by flying their flag as they pressed parliament for action.

Below is an article written by Craig Skehan and published by the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE diplomatically sensitive Morning Star independence flag was flown outside the Australian Parliament yesterday [15 August 2007] by a group of West Papuans - some of whose successful asylum applications last year [2006] infuriated Indonesia.

Flying the same flag in West Papua would probably mean jail.

It was the anniversary yesterday [15 August 2007] of the 1962 diplomatic agreement which led to West Papua's incorporation by Indonesia.

The independence campaigner Herman Wainggai yesterday called on the Government to use a visit to Australia next month [September 2007] of the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to press for round-table talks on the province's future.

Mr Wainggai told those gathered in freezing light rain, including 25 of the 43 who were granted asylum last year [2006], that their plight had alerted ordinary Australians to repression by Indonesian security personnel. The refugees, some with their faces painted in traditional designs and one sporting a headdress of cassowary feathers, arrived at Cape York in January last year [2006]on board an outrigger canoe.

Mr Wainggai thanked the Australian Government for granting them asylum, but said it was not doing enough to speak out against abuses in West Papua, which borders Papua New Guinea. "We are not sure if those who need to hear our story are listening," he said. "People in our homeland need protection too."

Australia has signed a security agreement with Indonesia which provides that neither country should undermine the sovereign integrity of the other.

But submissions to a federal parliamentary inquiry stated that the treaty should not be used to stifle rights of those granted asylum in Australia to peacefully express their views.