Australia confirms Manus Island immigration detention centre will close

Immigration minister Peter Dutton offers no details on plans for the 854 detainees, but says none will be resettled in Australia

Australia and Papua New Guinea have confirmed that the Manus Island detention centre will be closed but offered no detail on the future of the 854 men held there – except that Australia remains adamant it will accept none of the detainees for resettlement.

PNG’s prime minister, Peter O’Neill, and Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, met in Port Moresby on Wednesday.

O’Neill released a statement after the meeting saying that officials from both countries were making progress on how to close the centre.

“Both Papua New Guinea and Australia are in agreement that the centre is to be closed,” O’Neill said, but offered no time frame, only stating that the process should not be rushed.

“A series of options are being advanced and implemented. This must take into account the interests of the people of Papua New Guinea and the wellbeing of asylum seekers and refugees.”

Dutton confirmed later on Wednesday that he had discussed the closure of Manus with O’Neill. The minister did not give any indication as to where those held on Manus would go but said none of the refugees would ever be settled in Australia.

“It has been the longstanding position of this government to work with PNG to close Manus and support those people as they transition into PNG or return to their country of origin,” he said.

“Our position, confirmed again today with PNG, is that no one from Manus Islandregional processing centre will ever be settled in Australia.

“In addition to the removal of all children from detention and the closure of 17 detention centres, this is a further dividend of the Coalition’s strong and consistent border protection policies.”

Labor’s immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann, said it was extraordinary that Australians were learning about the possible closure of Manus from the PNG prime minister rather than the Australian minister.

“This is yet again an example of the lack of transparency and accountability and openness of this government to offshore detention and processing,” Neumann said. “The Australian public have a right to know in circumstances where about $1.2bn of taxpayers’ money is going to offshore processing, what is actually happening.

“Surely the minister should be consulting the opposition and trying to get a bipartisan approach in this space.”

Neumann called on the minister to inform Australians where the asylum seekers would be sent and what arrangements would be made for health, education and other needs. “Tell the Australian public what is happening,” Neumann said.

Source-https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/17/manus-island-detention-centre-to-close-australia-and-papua-new-guinea-agree