Police move in to clear out refugees

HUNDREDS of asylum seekers refusing to leave the Manus Island detention centre have been told by the Turnbull Government to move to a new $10 million facility.

The Papua New Guinea police and army yesterday moved into the mothballed centre to clear out the asylum seekers refusing to leave.

Labor is calling on the Government to accept New Zealand’s offer to take the refugees.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton refused to budge and said the asylum seekers needed to move to a new centre built for them.

“It’s like the tenant that won’t move out of the house when you’ve built a new house for them to move into,” Mr Dutton told 2GB.

Earlier this month, the UN’s refugee body said it had inspected two of the three new sites, at West Lorengau, and they were not ready. Mr Dutton’s office yesterday said a new centre at East Lorengau was ready to take the asylum seekers.