Christmas Is centre to be reopened
SYDNEY: Australia will reopen a controversial detention centre for asylum seekers, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday after an embarrassing defeat in parliament that allows migrants in offshore camps to receive medical care in the country.
The opposition Labor Party and independents voted to amend hardline immigration laws to give doctors the right to transfer some 1000 men and women from two Pacific detention centres if they need medical treatment.
The amendment, approved by the Senate yesterday, dealt a blow to the ruling conservative coalition which is trailing heavily in polls ahead of an election due in May.
Morrison said the change would bring a new wave of asylum seekers and forced the Government to reopen a detention centre on Christmas Island, a territory some 1550km northwest of the mainland.
The detention centre was officially closed in October, after Malcolm Turnbull promised at the 2016 election to shut it.
‘‘We have approved putting in place the reopening of the Christmas Island detention facilities, both to deal with the prospect of arrivals as well as dealing with the prospect of transfers,’’ Morrison told reporters.
Previously, asylum seekers intercepted at sea and sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru were not allowed to set foot in Australia unless the Government decided they needed urgent care.
Immigration Minister David Coleman said on Sunday the change would bring a return of the days when thousands of asylumseekers travelled to Indonesia and then paid smugglers to take them on to Australia by boat.
Opponents accused the Government of fearmongering, saying the amendment concerned only those already detained in the Pacific camps.
‘‘This legislation is confined to the current cohort of people on Manus Island and Nauru,’’ Kerryn Phelps, an independent lawmaker, said.
‘‘It does not provide any kind of attraction to people to leave where they are and to try to make the journey to Australia because they will not be considered as part of this legislation.’’
Under the new laws, the Home Affairs Minister will have 72 hours to make a decision on whether to agree to a medical transfer.
If the minister rejects the medical reasons, the decision may be reviewed by a medical panel, which can recommend it goes ahead.
Then it is up to the minister to reject it on medical grounds again, or national security grounds, or if the person has a substantial criminal record and poses a threat to the Australian community.
Meanwhile, the local council on Christmas Island has warned its small regional hospital cannot cope with an influx of medical transfers from Manus Island and Nauru.
Council chief executive David Price said yesterday the tiny island was not ready to take asylum seekers with complex medical needs.
‘‘If a person has a compound fracture they’re airvacced out. There’s no operations done [here],’’ Mr Price told ABC Radio yesterday.
‘‘We just wouldn’t have the capacity to deal with people coming here for medical reasons, both physically and mentally.’’
Asked if the Government gave the council any warning about the decision, Mr Price replied: ‘‘No, no, no, absolutely not.’’
The New Zealand Government said yesterday the decision to reopen Christmas Island was ‘‘disappointing’’.
‘‘The conditions aren’t satisfactory,’’ New Zealand Justice Minister Andrew Little said.
‘‘It’s disappointing to see that happening.’’ — AAP