No demands received from Nigerian kidnappers: Australian FM

The Australian government has not yet received demands from the Nigerian militants who kidnapped three Australians and a New Zealand national earlier this week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Friday.

The four foreign workers were the victims of an ambush attack by militants in Nigeria's Calabar region on Wednesday, in which their driver was shot dead while on their way to a work site.

The Australians were working for Australian mining company Macmahon Holdings, which was contracted to mine for Lafarge Africa's UniCems cement plant in the nation's southeast.

Bishop confirmed her department had not yet received demands from the kidnappers, but said Australian authorities were working closely with Nigerian counterparts to secure the safe release of the three kidnapped Australians.

"We're working very closely with the Nigerian government at a national and state level -- the cross river province, which is where it occurred," she told reporters on Friday.

"We're maintaining very close contact with Macmahon Holdings and the families."

Bishop has ruled out the possibility of a government-paid ransom. She told reporters that Australia's longstanding bipartisan policy of not negotiating for ransoms would continue, as, if a precedent was set, it would only heighten the risk of abduction for Australian travelers around the world.

She said any negotiation with the kidnappers would be methodical and sensitive.

Meanwhile Macmahon Holdings on Friday said it was offering counselling to fellow employees as well as the families of those abducted, as the company worked with both governments to secure the safe release of those taken captive. Endit