Successive Australian governments have vowed to stop asylum seekers reaching the mainland, turning boats back to Indonesia when it can, and sending those it cannot to detention in camps on Manus island in Papua New Guinea and on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru. However up to now, exclusively 4 refugees have taken up the supply of money, free medical insurance & accommodation to move from Nauru to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
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“The deal with Cambodia is in shambles and, instead of recognising their mistakes, the government is trying to set up another dodgy deal”, she said.
Gleeson stressed that Australia did not require Nauru to detain asylum-seekers under their bilateral agreement, even though Canberra pays for their temporary visas and for the contractors who manage the processing facility.
The assertion was made by lawyers for the Commonwealth on the second day of the challenge to the lawfulness of Australian-funded detention centres at Nauru and Manus Island, which argues the federal government does not have the power under the constitution to detain people overseas.
Bishop’s office said the foreign minister had discussed “irregular migration, people smuggling and human trafficking” in a meeting with her Philippine counterpart, Albert del Rosario, in the margins of the United Nations general assembly in New York last week.
The hearings at the High Court, which are scheduled to last two days, will test for the first time whether Australia has the legal right to participate in the offshore detention of asylum seekers – the backbone of its immigration policy for five years. “We certainly don’t want a repeat of the Cambodia debacle where each refugee seems to have cost over $10 million to resettle – that is not good economics”.
“If we can strike an agreement that is in the best interests of our country and from the Philippines’ perspective, their country, we will arrive at that point”. He said only a few would accept the offer, but “we are happy to go”.
Dutton declined to release further details, including a timeframe for the deal or how many refugees could be resettled.
Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition, said the potential deal demonstrates how desperate the government has become to find an alternative to its Cambodia program.
It said Aquino had indicated early last month “that the Philippines was open to taking in refugees, with a few reservations”.
“The issues that are very real in Cambodia are just as real in the Philippines”, Mr Rintoul said. “The possibility of education, secure jobs…”
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Opposition politician Sarah Hanson-Young slammed the proposed deal with the Philippines. “These issues are important to both countries, and to the region”, Bishop’s spokeswoman reportedly said.
