Ardern’s refugee offer brushed off
Australia’s Turnbull says leave matter to chiefs of staff
Jacinda Ardern has been given the brushoff by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over her bid to have more “substantive” talks with him about Manus Island refugees while in Manila.
What the Prime Minister got instead was discussion “in passing” with Turnbull at the East Asia Summit.
They agreed their chiefs of staff should continue the discussion.
Ardern was also the subject of some leaking by Australian authorities who suggested her offer to take 150 refugees from Manus had stoked “chatter” among people smugglers of New Zealand as a soft touch.
It is understood Australia wants to secure the United States’ commitment to take up to 1250 Manus Island refugees, made by former President Barack Obama a year ago and reluctantly agreed to by his successor Donald Trump, but that New Zealand’s offer is not off the table.
Ardern reacted angrily to suggestions that her offer — first made by John Key in 2013 — was encouraging smugglers.
Anyone who tried to put at risk vulnerable people’s lives should come under the full force of the law, she told reporters in Manila covering the East Asia Summit.
“They must be stopped. New Zealand has played a role in trying to stop them.”
New Zealand had worked with Australia for a number of years to stop people smugglers and would continue to do so.
She said the reported “chatter” among people smugglers eager to try to get to New Zealand was nothing new.
“I’ve been given no indication that that chatter ever stopped. We know it has been an ongoing issue.”
The Courier-Mail in Brisbane reported that Operation Sovereign Border had intercepted four boats heading to New Zealand carrying 164 people but it had no knowledge if this was recent or historic.
Former Prime Minister John Key revealed in 2015 that a steel-hulled boat carrying 65 people had been intercepted on its way to New Zealand and was returned to Indonesia.
Ardern told reporters the “passing” conversation with Turnbull was not a snub and that it was splitting hairs to suggest her talks with him weren’t substantive because they weren’t sitting down for a meeting.
But Ardern herself in Vietnam four days ago publicly signalled her wish for more “substantive” talks over New Zealand’s offer to take 150 refugees.
National Party leader Bill English accused Ardern of “making a bit of a show of putting pressure on Australia over Manus Island, knowing that Australia won’t take up the offer”.
He said the story of the boats heading to New Zealand was a sign of the “cost” of Ardern’s position.
“We rely on the cooperation with Australia to ensure people don’t head to New Zealand in these boats . . . It’s the Australian authorities that see them and turn them around.”