More refugees will resettle in Cambodia

CANBERRA – Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says he is confident Cambodia will resettle more refugees from Nauru, after meeting with Cambodian leaders.

Australia has an aid deal with Cambodia worth more than $40 million to resettle refugees from Nauru, but so far only four refugees have taken up the offer.

However, Dutton said those four were part of a pioneering pilot programme to test the feasibility of sending more.

“The Cambodians wanted to have people in a small group come across to make sure the programme worked,” he said.

“The programme that we’ve got in place around housing, education, employment – all of that needed to be put in place, as well as the ability to learn the language and the capacity to be able to integrate into Cambodian society.

Last month the Government played down reports that Cambodia had no plans to settle more refugees than the initial four.

“Let’s say the first four were to demonstrate both to us and to the Cambodians that the situation could work and they’ve been able to pioneer this particular programme,” Dutton said.

Dutton still will not say how many refugees will ultimately be resettled in Cambodia, and he said the amount would ultimately depend on the number that volunteer.