PM defence on refugees
No obligation in US swap deal revealed
MALCOLM Turnbull has defended a phone call in which he assured Donald Trump the US was not obliged to accept a single refugee under a one-off people swap deal.
A leaked transcript revealed by the Washington Post of the pair’s heated conversation in January provides a rare glimpse into how the Prime Minister corralled Mr Trump into endorsing the refugee deal.
The agreement, hatched with the Obama administra- tion, involved the US accepting up to 1250 refugees on Manus Island and Nauru, in return for Australia taking asylum seekers from Central America.
“You can decide to take 1000 or 100. It is entirely up to you,” Mr Turnbull told the President, later explaining he could also take none.
“The obligation is to only go through the process.”
Mr Turnbull told Mr Trump Australia was willing to take refugees the US did not want.
“We will take anyone that you want us to take. We would rather take a not very attractive guy that helps you out than to take a Nobel Peace Prize winner that comes by boat,” he said.
His assurances contradict repeated denials by the Federal Government of any “quid pro quo” tied to the deal.
Questioned about the people swap yesterday, Mr Turnbull said that Australia’s relationship with the US on refugee policy was based on mutual assistance.
“We help the Americans, they help us. It’s in the context of a very big relationship of mutual support,” he said.
Human rights groups and opposition parties are furious about the transcript, which they say exposes massive holes in the US refugee deal.
In the phone call transcript, Mr Trump praised Mr Turnbull for being “worse than I am” on rejecting refugees, but bemoaned the agreement.
Mr Trump described the agreement as “a horrible deal, a disgusting deal” which would make him look like a “dope” and a weak and ineffective leader. The US leader feared the refugees would turn into terrorists.