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Australia rejects New Zealand’s offer to take in PNG asylum seekers

Sunday, 05 November 2017 10:20 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 05 November 2017 10:50 AM ]

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (R) and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attend a joint press conference in Sydney, November 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Australia has rejected an offer by New Zealand to take in a number of asylum seekers abandoned by Canberra in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told his visiting counterpart from New Zealand during talks in Sydney on Sunday that he would not, for the time being, accept the offer.

New Zealand had offered to take in 150 people from a group of 600 asylum seekers left without water, food, and power at a former Australian-run detention camp for refugees on the PNG’s Manus Island.

This undated handout picture, received from the Refugee Action Coalition on August 7, 2017, shows the inside of a former refugee detention center on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. (Via AFP)

“We thank New Zealand for making an offer, we are not taking it up at this time,” local media quoted Turnbull as saying.

This is while Australia has completely abandoned the asylum seekers on PNG and, since leaving the camp, has taken no action to re-accommodate them. In so doing, it has triggered a humanitarian emergency for the individuals at the camp and drawn criticism from PNG officials.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had attempted to sound sympathetic toward Australia. Prior to the meeting with Turnbull on Thursday, she said, “I think anyone would look at a situation like that and see the human face of what is an issue that New Zealand is in the lucky position of not having to struggle with, and Australia has.”

Labor leader Bill Shorten had urged Turnbull, the leader of the Liberal Party, to consider New Zealand’s offer.

This photo, taken on November 3, 2017, shows a refugee using a bottle of water as he washes himself at the Manus Island camp in Papua New Guinea. (By AFP)

Australia withdrew from the PNG refugee detention center on Tuesday, following a PNG court ruling that the controversial site was illegal.

Australia has been detaining the asylum seekers who attempt to reach the country by boat and had been sending some of them to the PNG. Under a controversial refugee policy known as “Sovereign Borders,” Australia also sends other such asylum seekers to another camp, in Nauru in the South Pacific, which is still operating.

This photo, taken on November 3, 2017, shows refugees sleeping in their bunk beds at the Manus Island camp in Papua New Guinea. (By AFP)

Canberra refuses to resettle the so-called boat asylum seekers inside Australia.

The asylum seekers have barricaded themselves inside the camp, saying they fear being attacked by locals if they leave the premises.

The United Nations has repeatedly criticized Australia for its refugee policy and described conditions at the Australian refugee detention centers as “inhuman and degrading.”

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