Refugee advocates have staged a rally in the eastern Australian city of Sydney to mark 150 days since a boat load of asylum seekers moored in Indonesia.
About 50 protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Prime Minister's Sydney office.
Greens MP Sylvia Hale says the government has turned a blind eye to the 230 Tamils still onboard the boat moored at the port of Merak.
"Allow those Tamil refugees to proceed to Australia. "
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, says conditions aboard the ship are getting worse - including a recent outbreak of chicken pox.
"There's simply ongoing problems with getting proper medical attention," he said.
The ship has been moored since October when it was intercepted by the Indonesian navy on the way to Australia.
Former PM says wider agreement needed
Australia's former Minister Malcolm Fraser says the problems of people smuggling and asylum seekers can't be solved in boat-by-boat negotiations with Indonesia.
He says Australia has turned backwards on dealing with asylum seekers, with both sides of politics trying to prove their toughness in an unseemly debate which resonates around the world.
He's told a forum in Sydney that any deal with Indonesia won't work without a wider agreement with countries that will accept refugees.
"It worked in relation to Indochina and Vietnam because both Malaysia and Indonesia knew that not only Australia, but Canada and America in particular were going to take a very large number of people from the detention centres and I haven't seen any sign that the government is trying to negotiate that wider agreement."
New boat intercepted
Another boat carrying asylum seekers has been intercepted in Australia's northern waters.
The government says 46 passengers and three crew are believed to be on board the boat, which was found north of Ashmore Islands Wednesday morning.
Those on board are being taken to Christmas Island for health, security and identity checks. (ABC News)
