The Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison snubbed Tamil politicians and civil society during a visit to Jaffna last night, meeting instead with the retired Sri Lankan army general and Colombo appointed governor, G.A. Chandrasiri.

According to The Australian, the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran said he "knew nothing of the Immigration Minister's visit".

During a historic visit November last year, the British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Mr Wigneswaran at the Jaffna library, alongside Tamil war widows and long-term IDPs.

"I came to know that he with some of his officials via helicoptor, and he met with the governor in Jaffna and immediately he went back," TNA MP Suresh Premachandran told Radio Australia.

"In Jaffna Scott Morrison did not meet with any other people. According to my knowledge [and] my information he didn't meet any of the parliamentarians or provincial council members or civil society."

Asked if Mr Morrison could have formed an accurate understanding of the situation there if he only met with the governor, Mr Premachandran said:

"How [is] it possible. It's a minister he came by helicopter, with his own officials, they came from Australia, with the High Commissioner they came to Jaffna and they went back.

"So without meeting the civil society people, without meeting the provincial council members elected by the people, without meeting the parliamentarians, how can a person come to some sort of conclusion about the Northern Province situation or the Jaffna situation?"

Meeting briefly with journalists, outside the governor's resident last night, Mr Morrison said he was “amazed and impressed by the scale of transformation that’s been taking place over the past five years”.

“The Australian Government knows Sri Lanka has had a difficult past. This is my second visit to Jaffna and, even in the past 13 months, to see the changes that have taken place I can only commend the governor and wish the new provincial government all the best as they continue their work to provide a future and society where people can prosper and live peacefully with each other.”

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told The Australian that "nothing could be further from the truth."

"We had been trying to reach the Australian high commission for days to see if we could meet with him. It’s very strange that he would choose not to meet with elected representatives," he is reported to have added.

In the morning Mr Morrison attended a commissioning ceremony for the two patrol boats gifted by the Australian government to the Sri Lankan navy.