Marni Cordell

Greens senator Richard Di Natale has accused shadow foreign ministerJulie Bishop of inciting the Indonesian military to act against the West Papuan Freedom Flotilla.

The flotilla of Australian and West Papuan activists is sailing from Cairns to West Papua to raise awareness of human rights abuses under Indonesian rule.

Di Natale wrote to Bishop this week to express concern about her public comments on the flotilla. “This peaceful protest does not pose any threat to Indonesia and to imply otherwise has the potential to put Australian lives in danger,” he wrote. “Your comments run the very real risk of inflaming an already tense situation given the threatening language already used by senior members of the Indonesian security forces.”

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