Government talks to lift Corby transfer hopes

19:35 AEST Mon May 30 2005

Australia will send a team of negotiators to Indonesia next week to thrash out a prisoner transfer deal which could allow Schapelle Corby to serve part of her sentence on home soil.

News of the talks comes amid outrage at the 20-year sentence handed down by a Bali court to Corby after she was found guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.

Some of her supporters have demanded refunds of their donations to Indonesian victims of the Boxing Day tsunami and a new website urges Australians to boycott the Bali.

But the federal government has appealed for calm, warning that attacks on Indonesia would not help Corby.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said a draft agreement on prisoner exchanges had been sent to the Indonesian government, with formal talks to start next Monday.

Mr. Downer spent 40 minutes on the phone to his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda discussing the sentence imposed on the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student.

"I explained to him that in Australia we obviously accepted the Indonesian legal processes but that there was substantial concern in Australia about this issue," Mr. Downer said.

"He said that he was aware of the issue and aware of some of the controversy in Australia.

"He did say that Indonesia would be willing to negotiate a prisoner transfer agreement and I explained to him that our team would be up there at the beginning of next week."

A new website, BanBali.com, has sprung up urging Australians to boycott the resort island.

But Mr. Downer said attacks on Indonesia would not help Corby.

"It is important that people who wish to campaign for Schapelle Corby remember that, ultimately, the authorities they have to convince are the Indonesian judicial authorities," he said.

Labor has written to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asking Corby be given a pardon.

But Prime Minister Mr. Howard criticised the move, saying it was absurd to make such a request when Corby's appeal against the sentence had not yet been heard.

"Some people will think that I can fix this because this country gave $1 billion in assistance to Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami...," he told Macquarie Radio.

"I believe the fairest go we can give this girl at the moment is to allow the appeal process to go ahead."

Mr. Howard also rejected suggestions Australia was not actively supporting Corby because of its relationship with Indonesia.

"That relationship is important, but so is a fair go for this girl," he said.

Corby's legal team spent the day locked in talks about an appeal, a move which could result in Corby's sentence being increased.

Her Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe said they were considering a suggestion by Brisbane barrister Julian Wagner to lodge their appeal with Indonesia's Constitutional Court rather than the High Court.

Mr. Wagner argues comments by Bali chief judge Linton Sirait before Corby's sentence was handed down showed the Denpasar court was biased because of his suggestion that she had to prove her innocence.

Barrister Tom Percy, one of two QCs who have been asked to help Corby's appeal, said he believed she was innocent but would have got a better result if there had been less media hype about her case.

"I have no doubt at all that other people who have got better results over there because the whole matter was kept a lot quieter," he told ABC radio.

But Mr. Percy, who has begun talks with Corby's lawyers about the appeal, said he did not blame her defence team for the way they handled her trial.

22:02 AEST Tue May 31 2005

The federal government has hit back at claims it failed to pass on to Schapelle Corby's lawyers a Customs report into drug smuggling at Australian airports, saying it never knew the document existed.

Labor has questioned why the government did not hand over the secret report, which revealed that baggage handlers diverted bags containing large amounts of drugs from incoming international flights to domestic baggage carousels.

Opposition homeland security spokesman Robert McClelland said given the report had been around since September it should have gone to lawyers for Corby, who has been sentenced by a Bali court to 20 years jail for drug smuggling.

"It indicates systematic criminality ... that is a material fact that at the very least should have been disclosed to her defence," Mr. McClelland said.