JAKARTA/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia last month turned a boat carrying asylum-seekers back to Indonesia, the first time Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government has implemented a new immigration policy and further straining ties between the neighbours.
The 47 asylum-seekers were found on Indonesia's southern-most point, Rote Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, on December 19 where their boat had run aground after being intercepted and turned back by the Australian navy, Indonesia's Antara news agency quoted police as saying.