CANBERRA, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian authorities have asked an Australian Customs ship carrying 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to move to a new port, Australian prime minister said Tuesday.

    Kevin Rudd told parliament Indonesian authorities had now asked for the ship to dock at a new port, the port of Kijang, rather than Tanjung Pinang previously.

    "Australian authorities have agreed with that request," he told question time.

    Rudd said he had discussed the humanitarian situation with the asylum seekers with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at his inauguration ceremony last week.

    Subsequent discussions about where to land the asylum seekers were held at a diplomatic level, Rudd said.

    The 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers were rescued from their stricken vessel by Australian authorities 10 days ago. The passengers on board the Australian Customs ship Oceanic Viking refused to disembark from the boat when it docked at the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pinang.

Australian FM confident asylum seekers won't be removed forcibly

    CANBERRA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) - Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says Monday he's confident Indonesian authority won't forcibly remove asylum seekers from an Australian Customs vessel.

    "The people on board the Oceanic Viking have as their priority the safety and well being of those people on board," Smith told reporters in Canberra on Monday. Full story

Australian gov't criticized for detention of asylum seekers on Christmas Island

    CANBERRA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Human Rights Commission on Friday slammed the federal government over its use of mandatory detention and processing of asylum seekers on Christmas Island.

    As authorities on Friday intercepted another boat -- the 36th of this year -- off the coast of Western Australia, the commission cautioned the government against departing from its international human rights obligations. Full story

Australian PM slams coalition for running fear campaign on asylum-seekers

    CANBERRA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday slammed the coalition for lacking any policy credibility on immigration and running a fear campaign on asylum-seekers.

    During a question time again dominated by the asylum-seeker issue, Labor and the coalition both further entrenched their positions on the influx of arrivals heading to Australia. Full story