Australia ‘passing buck’ on refugees

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court is likely to consider whether Australia has any legal responsibility for the refugees and asylum seekers it placed on Manus Island.

A lawyer for a number of refugees on the island, Ben Lomai, told PNG’s Supreme Court on Thursday that there is evidence that Australia is effectively, or at least jointly, responsible for the 900 men who remain on Manus.

The court is conducting an inquiry into who is responsible for the men.

Lomai said it could make Australia a party to any case if it finds the Australian Government has some legal responsibility for them.

Australia’s immigration policy dictated that asylum-seekers trying to reach the country by boat be sent to PNG or Nauru for processing, and not be settled in Australia.

The PNG Immigration Minister and PNG government have said the processing and resettlement of refugees is purely Papua New Guinea’s responsibility.

The Australian government is not a party to the current proceedings, and did not send any officials to appear before the Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia on Thursday.

When it finishes its inquiry, the Supreme Court will consider applications to enforce its finding in April that the Regional Processing Centre was illegal.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill responded to the decision at the time by saying the centre would be closed.

But there has been no announcement since on the future of the men in the Australian-funded centre, with only a small number resettled as refugees in PNG. One of Manus Island’s MPs, Ronnie Knight, told the ABC that Australia should provide more detail to the court about its resettlement plans, and more help to actually resettle the men.

“The problem now is who is responsible for them. Ultimately they are there because Australia put them there,” Knight said.

“Australia has to come up with some sort of plan to assist Papua New Guinea to deal with the problem. You just can’t pass the buck.”

Knight said the best solution would be for the asylum seekers to be returned to Australia, but acknowledged that appeared unlikely.

“You know, if I was an Australian and I was in the Australian government and handling this thing I would wash my hands of it and say to PNG, ‘you agreed to do it, so take it yourself’,” he said.

“But there is a thing called fairness and we cannot leave people locked up for such a long time here, we cannot leave them in limbo like this.” - ABC