The opposition has demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reveal details of the deal reached with the Indonesian government to bring the five surviving Bali Nine prisoners to Australia.
Matthew Norman, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj are serving life sentences in Indonesia and have spent almost 20 years behind bars in Balinese prisons.
In 2005, the group and four other Australians were arrested while trying to smuggle 8.3 kilos of heroin strapped to their bodies from the holiday island.
Shadow Attorney General Michaelia Cash told Sky News on Sunday it was “inexplicable” Albanese had not detailed what Australia was giving Indonesia to get the five prisoners home.
‘What’s the deal?’ she asked.
‘What have you obtained in connection with the deal? What is Australia giving up in relation to the agreement? How much is it going to cost the Australian taxpayer?
‘Will they continue to serve their prison sentences because they have been sentenced to life in prison in Indonesia? Will they continue to serve them in Australia? And if not, why not?
Albanese had pressured former Indonesian president Joko Widodo and then-current president Prabowo Subianto “for months” to reach a deal.
Anthony Albanese (pictured, center left, with his partner Jodie, right) is reported to have pressured former Indonesian president Joko Widodo (pictured, center right, with Iriana) to secure the agreement.
Trade Minister Don Farrell said the proposal to the Indonesian government was not to “release these people” from jail and that they would continue to serve their sentences in Australia.
He said he could not comment further, but Mr Albanese was trying to represent the “interests of Australians overseas”.
‘Discussions are ongoing. “It is clear that the Prime Minister has stood up for these young Australians and we will see what happens in the coming days and weeks,” Mr Farrell said.
Cash said the details were “very clear” on whether the five Australians would have to serve life sentences once home.
“Mr Albanese needs to be honest with the Australian people,” he said.
‘What is the nature of the deal to bring back Australians who have been convicted as part of a heroin drug trafficking ring convicted by an Indonesian court?’
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the shadow attorney general’s comments “cruel and heartless” on ABC’s The Insiders.
—I mean, cruel and heartless, frankly. Cruel and heartless. And if you want a glimpse of what Peter Dutton’s government will be like, this is the place,” Ms Hanson-Young said.
Pictured, top left to right: Myuran Sukumaran, Scott Rush, Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Renae Lawrence and bottom: Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephen and Andrew Chan.
“Don’t be fooled by Dutton dressed as sheep.”
On Friday, the coordinating minister for legal affairs, human rights, immigration and prisons, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, told The Weekend that Australian Anthony Albanese had requested that the prisoners be transferred to Australia.
“The President of Indonesia responded that they are currently reviewing and processing the matter and it is expected to be carried out in December,” he said.
He added that Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had previously requested that “Australian citizens convicted of drug offenses and serving sentences in various prisons be transferred to Australia.”
Of the other Bali Nine members arrested in the original raid, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, while Renae Lawrence was freed the same year after her life sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal.
The masterminds of the drug scheme, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015 on Nusa Kambangan or ‘Prison Island’.