Category Archives: Indonesia

Revealed: Indonesian workers on UK farm ‘at risk of debt bondage’

Posted on by

As farms look further afield for labour, investigation finds Kent pickers saying they struggle to pay fees charged by unlicensed brokers

Indonesian labourers picking berries on a farm that supplies Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco say they have been saddled with debts of up to £5,000 by unlicensed foreign brokers to work in Britain for a single season.

Pickers at the farm in Kent were initially given zero-hours contracts, and at least one was paid less than £300 a week after the cost of using a caravan was deducted, according to payslips and other documents seen as part of a Guardian investigation.

Continue reading...

‘My family need my support to eat’: how Indonesians came to work on a Kent farm

Posted on by

Drawn to the prospect of a job abroad, people such as Banyu signed up to a language course. From there, their debts to brokers grew

Sitting in a caravan in the hot Kent countryside, Banyu’s face is etched with worry. It is July and he is less than a month into a job picking fruit at Clock House farm near Maidstone, which supplies strawberries, raspberries and other soft fruit to leading supermarket chains.

He says he arrived from Indonesia this summer £5,000 in debt to an unlicensed broker in Bali, handing over the deeds to his family home as surety. He only has a six-month visa for the picking season and is scared that the work is not as lucrative as he hoped.

Continue reading...

Chinese military has become more aggressive and dangerous, says US chief of staff

Posted on by

As Washington seeks to shore up alliances in the Pacific, Gen Mark Milley says Beijing’s attempts to expand its influence are ‘not benign’

The Chinese military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years, the United States’ top military officer said during a trip to the Indo-Pacific that included a stop in Indonesia.

Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Sunday that the number of intercepts by Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific region with US and other partner forces had increased significantly over that time, and the number of unsafe interactions has risen by similar proportions.

Continue reading...

Labor resists calls to close border to Indonesia after foot-and-mouth viral fragments detected in SA

Posted on by

Agriculture minister Murray Watt says federal government confident new biosecurity measures enough to protect livestock industry

The federal government is resisting calls to close Australia’s border to Indonesia over the foot-and-mouth disease threat, after more fragments of the potentially devastating livestock virus were detected in South Australia.

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said he was confident that new federal biosecurity measures would be sufficient to keep out foot-and-mouth disease, which could threaten Australia’s entire meat industry, as farmers call on the government to not overreact.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Indonesian islanders sue cement producer for climate damages

Posted on by

Claimants say they are experiencing serious negative impacts and demand Swiss-based Holcim pay compensation

Residents of an Indonesian island threatened by rising sea levels have begun legal action against the cement producer Holcim.

The claim for compensation, filed in Switzerland by three men and one woman, is understood to be the first major climate damages lawsuit against a cement company.

Continue reading...

Foot-and-mouth disease: Australian airports to step up precautions as farmers grow anxious

Posted on by

Agriculture minister says disinfectant mats will be installed to prevent arrival of the disease, which is spreading in Indonesia

The federal government will install acidic disinfectant mats at airports as part of an expanded suite of biosecurity measures to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) entering Australia from Indonesia.

The new precautions come as viral fragments of the disease were detected in food products arriving from China.

Continue reading...

Ukraine tensions run high as Lavrov flies into Bali for G20 foreign ministers summit

Posted on by

Meeting in Indonesia will be the first with the Russian envoy since the Kremlin invaded its neighbour, triggering global food and energy crises

See all our Ukraine coverage here

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has flown into the Indonesian island of Bali for a gathering of G20 foreign ministers, which is likely to be overshadowed by Moscow’s war in Ukraine and deep divisions within the bloc over how to respond to the crisis.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Lavrov and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi are all due to attend the gathering as concern among western governments mounts about the war’s impact on the cost of food and fuel, which has prompted the UN to warn of an “unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution”.

Continue reading...

Australian superannuation industry leaders to visit Indonesia to turbocharge business ties

Posted on by

Former Labor frontbencher Greg Combet says group will examine viability of infrastructure investment opportunities as Australia tries to move past its reliance on China

Former Labor frontbencher and chair of IFM Investors Greg Combet will lead a high-powered delegation of leaders from the superannuation industry to Jakarta next month as part of efforts to turbocharge the economic relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

Combet has confirmed the group will examine the viability of investment opportunities in infrastructure on the back of a successful visit in June, when Anthony Albanese took a business delegation to Jakarta during his first visit to the country as prime minister.

Continue reading...

Malaysian foreign minister says concerns remain about Aukus pact after meeting with Penny Wong

Posted on by

Saifuddin Abdullah points to risk of regional arms race but pledges increased trade and cooperation on cybersecurity with Australia

Malaysia’s foreign minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, has said that his country’s concerns about the Aukus nuclear submarine pact remain unchanged, after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong.

Saifuddin told reporters he communicated Malaysia’s ongoing concern about the security deal between Australia, the UK and the US during a “very candid” discussion with Wong on her first visit to the Malaysian capital as Australia’s foreign minister.

Continue reading...

Watchdog won’t investigate AFP reliance on flawed technique to prosecute Indonesian boys

Posted on by

Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity says complaint about federal police not about corruption so does not fall within its remit

Australia’s law enforcement integrity watchdog refused to investigate Australian federal police who relied on a deeply flawed technique to use false dates of birth on sworn legal documents to prosecute Indonesian children as adult people smugglers.

Earlier this year, the Guardian used a trove of internal documents to show how police relied on deeply flawed evidence to alter the dates of birth given to them by Indonesian children found crewing asylum boats in 2009 and 2010.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

‘We can do much more’: Albanese calls on business to look past China to opportunities in Indonesia

Posted on by

Prime minister says there is significant opportunity for Australian companies in Indonesia’s growing economy

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia needs to move past its reliance on China for trade and income-generating opportunities with business needing to prioritise new strategies in Indonesia.

On his final day in Indonesia, the prime minister on Tuesday said industry could not rely on a thaw in the Australia-China relationship to restore lost opportunities.

Continue reading...

PM says prospect of Chinese naval base in Cambodia ‘concerning’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says

Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.

Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.

There is no simple magic fix to this.

The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.

That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.

Continue reading...

Albanese says Australian businesses ‘raring to go’ as he promises stronger economic ties with Indonesia

Posted on by

Ahead of travelling to Makassar on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese tells Jakarta business leaders Australia will partner with Indonesia to drive clean energy transition

Anthony Albanese says Australia’s economic relationship with Indonesia has “struggled to keep pace” with the country’s “extraordinary economic rise” but the new government in Canberra will dig in behind emerging opportunities, including partnerships in clean energy.

Before travelling on Tuesday to Makassar, on the southern tip of Sulawesi – a region the Indonesian president wants to develop – Australia’s prime minister told business leaders in Jakarta that Indonesia was “central to our trade diversification strategy”.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

PM calls Putin’s actions ‘abhorrent’ after confirming he’ll attend G20 – as it happened

Posted on by

Prime minister speaks in Jakarta after sharing bike ride with Indonesian president; Richard Marles says finding successor to Collins-class submarines is ‘No 1’ defence priority; Australia records at least 19 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed.

Similarly, on the Indigenous voice to parliament, Dutton said the Coalition is “very open to the discussion and what the government has to say”.

In principle, do we support anything that’s going to improve the situation of Indigenous Australians? Absolutely.

In Ted O’Brien we have someone with an exceptional background, a very considered person, a great communicator. And he did a report ... when he was on the backbench in the last parliament on nuclear energy. He had a particular focus on the latest generation, the small modular nuclear generation which can power up to 100,000 houses. So I’m not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear. If we want to have a legitimate emissions reduction, if we want to lower emissions reduction, that’s exactly the path president Macron has embarked on in France, it’s what prime minister Johnson is talking about in the United Kingdom ... I don’t think we should be afraid to talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices. That’s something we can consider in time. I don’t think we should rule things out simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese vows to strengthen Australia’s ties on official Indonesia visit

Posted on by

PM accompanied by senior ministers and business leaders as Labor’s regional diplomatic offensive continues amid growing China assertiveness

Anthony Albanese has declared he wants to strengthen the Australia-Indonesia relationship while deepening ties with south-east Asian nations amid escalating tensions prompted by China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Australia’s prime minister touched down in Jakarta on Sunday night accompanied by senior ministers and a high-powered business delegation to pursue a two-day diplomatic full court press in Indonesia.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese talks with Timor-Leste leadership as he flies to Indonesia for official visit

Posted on by

Ahead of Jakarta trip, PM flagged push for deeper ties with neighbours while ‘recognising the challenges’ of China’s involvement in region

Anthony Albanese had what officials characterised as a “warm and positive” conversation with the Timor-Leste prime minister, Taur Matan Ruak, en route to Jakarta on Sunday.

Ruak congratulated Albanese on his recent election victory, and the Australian prime minister pledged closer cooperation on the climate transition and development support for Timor-Leste.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese tells Labor colleagues not to waste a day as he urges ‘more inclusive’ parliament

Posted on by

Emotional prime minister gives first post-election address to caucus and confirms Indonesia visit this weekend

An emotional Anthony Albanese has urged his Labor colleagues not to waste a day in government while confirming he will go to Indonesia for his second overseas visit this weekend and convene the 47th parliament at the end of July.

The prime minister used his first post-election address to caucus on Tuesday, ahead of the appointment of his first cabinet and ministry, to outline his initial program as well as his expectations for the coming term of government.

Continue reading...

26 people missing after ferry sinks in Indonesia

Posted on by

Ferry was carrying 43 people when it capsized after running out of fuel in bad weather in the Makassar Strait

Twenty-six people are missing after a ferry ran out of fuel and sank in bad weather off the coast of Indonesia, officials have said.

The country’s search and rescue agency said the vessel was carrying 43 people when it capsized on Thursday in the Makassar Strait, the sea separating the islands of Sulawesi and Borneo.

Continue reading...

Refugee children handed anti-illegal migration playing cards, Australian charity says

Posted on by

Cards branded with Australian government’s ‘Zero Chance’ logo and QR code to border force website distributed in Indonesia

Playing cards adorned with the Australian government’s “Zero Chance” campaign against “illegal migration” were distributed to refugee children in Indonesia by people trespassing on school grounds, the charity running the school alleges.

The playing cards were allegedly given to children during break time at the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre in west Java.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

Posted on by

Britain stirred up tensions, chaos and violence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to declassified papers

The British government ran a secret “black propaganda” campaign for decades, targeting Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia with leaflets and reports from fake sources aimed at destabilising cold war enemies by encouraging racial tensions, sowing chaos, inciting violence and reinforcing anti-communist ideas, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The effort, run from the mid-1950s through to the late 70s by a unit in London that was part of the Foreign Office, was focused on cold war enemies such as the Soviet Union and China, leftwing liberation groups and leaders that the UK saw as threats to its interests

Continue reading...