Australia and Papua New Guinea are set to crack down on border control in a bid to prevent disease epidemics in the Torres Strait, where health services are stretched as Papuans illegally enter Australia seeking medical care.

Queensland Health Department figures show up to 2,000 Papuans per year are treated in the Strait, as PNG lacks the infrastructure to deal with rife tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. These numbers are on the rise, according to the department.

Do you think Australia should give PNG more money to improve health care services in the Western Province? Or should Queensland Health's funding be boosted so Papuans can access its services in the Torres Strait Islands?

The plan to step up immigrations controls follows calls by Indigenous leaders to review a 1985 treaty which allows some Papuans to travel to Australia for 'traditional purposes' without a visa.

Local leaders have blamed authorities like immigration, customs, fisheries and the police for the overload on the system, saying they do not take border control seriously. However, the immigration department says it is under obligation to refer Papuans who arrive ‘unlawfully’ for a health assessment if they present signs of a medical condition. They are not forced to return to PNG until they are fit to do so.

The federal government provides Queensland's health department with a budget of $3.4 million dollars annually to treat Papuans, but officials say this is no longer enough to cope with demand.

Catch SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster's story on Living Black this Wednesday at 6:00pm.
Australia and Papua New Guinea are set to crack down on border control in a bid to prevent disease epidemics in the Torres Strait, where health services are stretched as Papuans illegally enter Australia seeking medical care.

Queensland Health Department figures show up to 2,000 Papuans per year are treated in the Strait, as PNG lacks the infrastructure to deal with rife tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. These numbers are on the rise, according to the department.

The plan to step up immigrations controls follows calls by Indigenous leaders to review a 1985 treaty which allows some Papuans to travel to Australia for 'traditional purposes' without a visa.

Local leaders have blamed authorities like immigration, customs, fisheries and the police for the overload on the system, saying they do not take border control seriously. However, the immigration department says it is under obligation to refer Papuans who arrive ‘unlawfully’ for a health assessment if they present signs of a medical condition. They are not forced to return to PNG until they are fit to do so.

The federal government provides Queensland's health department with a budget of $3.4 million dollars annually to treat Papuans, but officials say this is no longer enough to cope with demand.

SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster investigated this week on Living Black.

Watch the video

TRANSCRIPT

KG: The Australian and Papua New Guinean governments have announced that it will make border control a priority to prevent the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS and TB in the Torres Strait Islands. Health services in the region have been stretched for years by Papuans illegally crossing into Australia to access medical centres. The announcement follows calls by Indigenous leaders in the region for a review of a treaty which allows some Papuan to travel to Australia without a visa. SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster reports.

Reporter: It's market day on Boigu Island in the Torres Strait, Australia's northern-most settlement, just 6km from PNG. Tony is a regular visitor from the nearest Western Province village in PNG.

Tony, Papuan Tradesman: I come over here to Boigu just to trade artefacts for a bit of money or for a bit of rice and flour.

Reporter: Every week a barge arrives from Thursday Island with supplies for the 250-strong community, and so do the Papuans to sell their wares. Under the Torres Strait Treaty, Papuans from 13 coastal villages can travel across this international border without a passport for traditional purposes. But the chair of the Queensland Government's local health council says most Papuans now arrive illegally in the Torres Strait to access health clinics.

Pedro Stephen, Torres Shire Mayor: Traditional trading is identified under the Treaty where it is actually, it's initiation, and then some form of barter and trade, there's also for religious purposes, but it's not for medical purposes. So most of the people who actually travel, they travel to access the medical centres.

Reporter: Foreign ministers from Australia and Papua New Guinea last month announced border control was now a priority to halt the spread of diseases into the Torres Strait. There is a HIV and tuberculosis epidemic in PNG. The nearest health facility for many villagers in Western Province is more than 100km away, in the regional capital of Daru. Papuans often have little choice but to illegally cross into Australia, where they are offered medical treatment.

Roxanne Ramsey, GM, Northern Area Health Service: If you are a health care professional and someone presents on your door sick, or often very sick, then really you can't say no.

Reporter: Immigration says it's obliged to refer "unlawful citizens" for a health assessment if they say they're sick on arrival and wouldn't return them to PNG until it was medically safe to do so. Queensland Health says they've recorded a significant increase in patient numbers.

Roxanne Ramsey: It is a concern because we've been very successful in keeping those illnesses out of the Torres, and so it is something that we need to watch. TB is a particularly difficult one because there are now drug-resistant strains that are starting to present.

Reporter: The Treaty's traditional purpose provisions makes it a unique international border agreement between two countries, but unlike Western Province, the Torres Strait has seen major infrastructure development since it was ratified in 1985. The Reverend Laws Waia is a pastor from Western Province and is the most senior Papuan based in the Torres Strait. He knows both sides of the border well.

Reverend Laws Waia, Uniting Church Minister: There are no proper health facilities. PNG is 32 years old since independence 1975. But let me tell you, Western Province out of all the other 18 provinces in Papua New Guinea has seen very little development in the south fly. Look at most of the villages, they're still living the same way they lived before independence.

Reporter: Just a few kilometres of water separates Boigu Island from PNG to the north, and it's in communities like this that services are being stretched because of violations of the Treaty by visitors from PNG. This woman and her 4-year-old son have come to Boigu from an inland Western Province village. He broke his arm four days earlier, but the nearest PNG hospital in Daru is too far away. But they are in Australia illegally. It's a familiar story for Boigu Island councillor Don Banu.

Don Banu, Boigu Island TSI Regional Council: There are contagious diseases that we are very much concerned about. I'm sure we have seen cases of TB, malaria. Malaria is sort of frequent, especially during the wet seasons, and then of course the HIV.

Reporter: Queensland Health figures show about 2,000 Papuans were treated at clinics last year and a similar number is expected this year. It says the $3.4 million in annual federal funding is not enough to treat Papuans.

Roxanne Ramsey: It probably was back a number of years ago but the increase that we get - we get an indexation increase each year that's not really accounted for the increase in numbers.

Pedro Stephens: The Western Province itself has been neglected since 1975. And it has been, in a round-about way, a smart move by PNG as a sovereign country to still make Australia accountable for that area.

Reporter: Australia already spends tens of millions of dollars a year on health in PNG. A joint Australian-PNG committee has been told to make recommendations on cross-border health funding ahead of a ministerial summit later this year.

Don Banu: We would have thought from day one that should have been in place. From the day one. We would have had customs, immigration in full force out here to try and implement the Treaty.

Reporter: He says local Customs officers have recently started doing all they can, but he is not alone in his criticism.

Pedro Stephens: In this region, the border agencies, barrier agencies, Customs, immigrations, AQIS, fisheries, federal police - those agencies must actually also don't find an excuse to hide under the spirit of treaty by not implementing their own law enforcement job.

Reporter: Immigration declined to be interviewed, but in a written statement said there has been no recent increase in monitoring. Customs boats have recently resumed cross-border patrols in the region. Immigration says it works closely with Customs and has visited PNG villages to raise awareness of the Treaty. But Papuans fear if the border control issue is not coordinated with extra health funding for Western Province, there could be serious consequences.

Reverend Laws Waia: People will die, people will definitely die, because most of them are not in a position to travel to Daru. They will die.

Reporter: And that's definitely not something Torres Strait Islanders want.

Pedro Stephens: They have been saying all along is that what they have they want their brothers and sisters to have, but the problem was, is actually their brothers and sisters live in another country.

KG: That story was filmed and reported by SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster. And if you'd like to have your say on this issue, visit our website. This week we're asking, do you think Australia should give PNG more money to improve health care services in the Western Province? Or should Queensland's health funding be boosted so Papuans can access its services in the Torres Strait Islands? Still to come on Living Black - a touch of genius. We meet gifted Torres Strait Islander artist Dennis Nona.