NATION Children off Nauru

CHILDREN of asylum seekers will soon be taken from Nauru to Australia but lawyers warn they will be in limbo and pressured to go back.

Former attorney- general and now UK High Commissioner George Brandis has said all asylum seeker children on Nauru would be moved to Australia by the end of the year.

Human rights lawyers plan to launch challenges to keep the children in Australia once they get here, but they say the Government is using tactics to get them to go back to Nauru.

“Children have been transferred off Nauru. That’s been happening for some time,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told 2GB radio yesterday.

An unofficial deadline of Christmas has reportedly been set to get asylum seeker children moved from Nauru.

“There are hardly any children on Nauru and in New Guinea and we expect that by the end of this year there will be none,” Mr Brandis told LBC radio in London.

Human Rights Law Centre advocacy director Daniel Webb said the Government was countering legal challenges with emotional pressure.

“We’ve got cases where family members have been deliberately left behind on Nauru as a tactic to pressure those brought to Australia to go back,” he said.

Even when they do get to Australia and start to recover, it isn’t over.

“They live with the fear that one day our government will send them back,” Mr Webb said.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he would not allow people who pose a security risk to Australia to be allowed out of Nauru, and asylum seekers would be sent back after medical treatment.

“I’ve had cases before where I’ve made decisions that the father will stay in custody and the child and the mother will go out into the community,” Mr Dutton told 2GB.

“I’ve been very clear, once people have received medical assistance, then the expectation is they will return back to their country of origin.”

It is understood there are 38 children of asylum seekers remaining on the island.

Of the children removed from the Pacific nation during the past few days, 13 have been hospitalised in capital cities across Australia.