Some asylum seekers held in detention on Nauru will be able to temporarily settle on the island if they are found to be genuine refugees, Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says.

Nauru will finalise about 60 claims for refugee status from asylum seekers within a month.

There is no promise of permanent resettlement in Nauru for the refugees who are released, but Morrison says the Australian government will provide a small allowance and fund their schooling and health needs through the detention centre.

Morrison says he is pleased with the progress of regional resettlement.

“The agreement was never there for permanent resettlement in Nauru but there will be a lengthy period of temporary resettlement in Nauru,” he said.

Morrison expects Nauru to continue processing the claims of those asylum seekers waiting in detention.

“We’ll have 60 persons who will have decisions handed down within the next month as a minimum and beyond that, each month we’re expecting at least that pace of decisions.”

Morrison is also confident that similar progress is being made on Manus Island in processing asylum seekers’ claims for refugee status.

Regarding the death of asylum seeker Reza Berati on Manus Island, Morrison says he will do all he can to help Papua New Guinea police interview Australians about the incident.

Berati, 23, was killed in an outbreak of violence inside the centre in February.

It is understood some of the security staff working at the centre at the time of the violence have returned to Australia before being interviewed by PNG police.

Morrison says he has given assurances to PNG officials that Australia will cooperate with any of their requests for interviews.

“Any effort that is required of us to facilitate that, I’ve given an absolute, an absolute undertaking that would be done and that is being resolved between the AFP and the PNG police,” he said.

The immigration minister says tension levels in the Manus Island detention centre have declined since Transfield took over from security firm G4S.

“There were tensions before they arrived and they’ve adopted some different procedures now they’re managing the centre internally and I think those initial changes have yielded some real positive results and the tension levels in the centres have declined,” Morrison said.

Morrison said discussions are continuing about other places for resettling refugees.

“Resettlement is freedom from persecution not a ticket to a first-class economy,” he said.

“Are we going to get behind a process which expands the number of countries that can participate in global resettlement where there’s a dearth of places or are we going to hold out in saying we’re only interested in freeing people from persecution if they can do so in a first-world economy.

“I think that provides an opportunity to change that paradigm and we’re talking about effectively three signatory countries talking to each other now after my discussions with Nauru today – Nauru, Australia and Cambodia.

“I think this has real promise,” he said.