Michael Usher: The Human Tide

I think this is possibly the most difficult and most frustrating story I've had to chase all year.

For the past 8 days, I've been in Indonesia tracking down people smugglers and the refugees waiting to get on boats to Australia.

It took some time, but we found a smuggler willing to tell his side of the story, and also located refugees who tell of their desperate struggle to start a new life away from the despair of lands they've left behind.

I think you'll be surprised by the smuggler's words. He's a fisherman by trade who claims he's successfully landed Chinese refugees just near Broome, and has acted a broker for other boat-loads of refuges who've been intercepted in Australian waters.

He runs smaller boats and tells Indonesian authorities he's just going fishing. But hidden beneath deck under fishing nets are refugees who've paid up to $15,000 each to get to Australia.

He told me it's easy to get to Australia, and that we're soft on refugees. In fact, he wants to get caught by the Australian Navy because that way: "I get a nice meal, good accommodation, maybe some clothes and even a plane ride."

He adds: "Being in detention in Australia is good, good conditions, much better than living here in Indonesian village or Indonesian jail."

And this smuggler is based in the Port of Pukang, West Timor, which is less than a thousand kilometres from Darwin. He says his fast boat can get to Australian waters in about two or three days.

When we found dozens of refugees high in the mountains of West Java in a place called Puncak, they told us a similar story.

They say it's easier to try and get to Australia by boat than try the legal way and apply for a visa. They say the United Nations and aid organisations funded by Australia just keep them waiting for up to 9 years in Indonesia to consider their request for a visa as refuges or asylum-seekers.

They're mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They tell heart-wrenching stories of death and despair in their homelands, and the quest to find a new life. They've all blown tens of thousands of dollars on attempts to get to Australia by boat, and have all been caught and turned back.

And they would all try to get to Australia by boat again, rather than wait for the U.N or aid groups to process their visa applications.

We also visited the port of Merak and spoke with those Sri Lankan refugees who, as I write this, are still refusing to leave their broken-down wooden boat after they were caught by the Indonesian Navy two weeks ago, after a tip off from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

There is proof, however that the Indonesian authorities are trying to stop these smugglers and their human cargo leaving Indonesia in the first place.

West Timor's police chief took us on patrol and showed the complexity of the coastline he tries to guard. There are hundreds of island and inlets, but his men use all the force they have to stop the smugglers taking off for Australia.

I also visited Pukang's local jail which holds three alleged people smugglers. I say alleged, because in Indonesia there is no such crime as people smuggling, so the three men I interviewed are serving time for manslaughter after the boat they helped organise sank on its way to Australia killing fourteen on board including a young boy.

Of course, all three deny they were involved in people smuggling and claim they were just trying to make some money arranging a boat for people who wanted to visit an island. That island just happened to be Australia and the people were refugees.

Whatever your opinion about this issue, I think the one thing that struck me was the will and determination of the refugees to come to Australia at whatever cost, even if it means risking their life at sea. They just don't want to be stranded in Indonesia and claim they can't go home.

And I think you'll see that there's no shortage of smugglers willing to cash in on their despair. Smugglers who have no fear of being caught by the Australian Navy or Coast Guard. In fact, that's what they want so they can hand over their human cargo and eventually head home for more wretched refugees.