Immigration minister talks down PM Key’s offer

NAURU – New Zealand’s immigration minister says his government has no plans to enter into a refugee resettlement plan with Nauru.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse issued a statement after his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton seemed to leave the door open to a deal between Nauru and New Zealand on refugees, saying any potential resettlement would be a matter for the two countries.

The Australian government has repeatedly talked down New Zealand as a third country option for refugees on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and turned down an offer from the country to take 150 people a year.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key repeated the offer earlier this year, but yesterday Woodhouse said it was only open to Australia.

“Our offer was made to Australia to take 150 offshore detainees who have been approved as convention refugees,” he said.

“We are not considering entering into a separate arrangement directly with Nauru.”

While Dutton said he would have no objection to a deal between Nauru and New Zealand, he reiterated that no one who came by boat would be able to resettle in Australia.

“We have had people smugglers that have tried to send boats across the top of Australia to New Zealand before,” he said.

“Let me make this very important point that people – if they’ve sought to come by boat – it doesn’t matter where they’re resettled, New Zealand or somewhere else, they will not be co ming to Australia at any point.”

Dutton has previously said he would be seeking Labor support to ensure that processed refugees who gained passports in their resettlement country would not be allowed to travel to Australia.

“There likely would be a change to some law that we would need Labor to support and we’ll wait and see whether they do support that,” he told media last month.

“But I’ve made it clear that even if people are granted citizenship elsewhere, they’re not then coming to Australia.”

Key told reporters in February that the offer to resettle refugees remained open.

Speaking after meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney, Key said it was “potentially possible” for New Zealand to take refugees.

Turnbull said Australia appreciated the offer, but that the Commonwealth remained “utterly committed” to not giving encouragement or “marketing opportunities” to people smugglers.

In June, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that New Zealand was not an “ideal” option.

“It would send a message to the people smuggling trade that you can get to New Zealand and then, presumably, to Australia,” she said.

According to the latest statistics from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 411 people were counted as living in the Nauruan centre.

The statistics, dated July 31, included 49 children.

- ABC