PNG: Refugee status known soon

Papua New Guinea has taken the first step towards granting refugee status and resettling refugees currently detained on Manus Island.

The ABC has obtained a letter from a PNG immigration official informing a 40-year-old Iranian man of the “positive initial assessment” to his asylum claim.

The letter, dated Wednesday April 30, states the man is not yet considered a refugee.

The final decision must come from PNG’s Foreign and Immigration ministers.

The document refers to resettling refugees in Papua New Guinea, an issue which asylum seekers and former staff at the Manus Island detention centre say set off riots that left an Iranian Reza Barati dead.

The asylum seeker in question is from the centre’s Mike Compound, the same place where Barati was killed.

More than 1300 male asylum seekers have been waiting up to 10 months for their asylum claims to be processed.

Staff at the centre are believed to be on alert as asylum assessments are delivered.

Earlier this month, Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the first of those found to be refugees could be resettled in PNG in June.

The PNG government has approved the creation of a refugee visa that will provide work rights and freedom of movement to asylum seekers found to be refugees.

Australia’s Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young says the process with PNG is a “facade designed to reject as many refugees as possible”.

The owners of land housing Australia’s detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island say Australia is practising boomerang aid over the camp.

One of the landowners, Porou Papi, says they initially saw the facility as an economic opportunity for Manus Island but Canberra has not used any of their resources, with mostly Australian contractors employed.

Papi says the landowners feel Australia’s actions make no sense.

“Now, the question is this –are they questioning the capabilities and the qualifications of we Manus citizens, the landowners?

“They are getting every – materials, everything – their food supplies from Australia.