Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there are no payback conditions written into the deal that secured the men’s return to Australia after 19 years.
The five remaining Bali Nine members will get health checks and undergo rehabilitation from a detention facility in Darwin before they walk freely in the Australian community, after being transferred home after serving 19 years in Indonesian prison for drug smuggling.
“I had the opportunity to speak to a number of the parents last night of these people. They are grateful that their sons have been able to return home. They did a serious crime and they have rightly paid a serious price for it,” Albanese said. The Indonesian wives of two of the men, Norman and Stephens, did not follow them to Australia, and Education Minister Jason Clare said normal visa processes would apply to the men’s families.
Dutton sympathised with the feelings of the men and their families on Monday. “At a personal level, and for their families, particularly coming into Christmas, you can understand the excitement and the relief that they’ll have,” he said. The opposition leader also joined Albanese in praising Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, whose personal willingness to transfer the men to Australia was crucial to their release after almost two decades.“President Prabowo is a good friend of Australia, and a very good man, so he’s obviously seen fit to provide this act of clemency or this act of generosity,” Dutton said.
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