Manus MP confused by ‘closure’

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – There is confusion on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island after the Supreme Court this week determined that the regional processing centre for asylum seekers on the island had officially closed.

The court was seeking compliance by the governments of PNG and Australia with its ruling last April that holding around 900 men there against their will was illegal.

Accepting a submission from PNG’s government, Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia stated the centre had in fact been closed and that refugees and asylum seekers on Manus were now freely accommodated at the naval base the centre was built on.

However Manus Island MP Ron Knight said he found the ruling “bizarre” because not much has changed at the centre.

Knight said although the gates of the centre were now open, the men were still stuck there and were unable to leave of their own free will.

The Chief Justice’s finding comes as the PNG government said the centre must be closed by the end of October this year.

According to the ABC, PNG cabinet ministers told an Australian government delegation last week they wanted the centre closed by the end of October and asked for Australia’s help in dealing with refugees who might not be resettled in a proposed deal with the United States – itself under question after the election of Donald Trump as president.

The surprise judgment vindicates moves to deport 166 men from the centre whose refugee claims have been rejected who were seeking a legal injunction against their deportation.

Since the April Supreme Court ruling, some freedoms have been granted to the detainees, including the ability travel into the nearby town, but they remain in the same accommodation compounds and are subject to the security restrictions of being inside a naval base.

Sir Salamo’s finding is at odds with the apparent understanding of even the PNG government, which said on Monday it had a timetable to close the centre by October.

- PNC