Talks on refugee screenings

WELLINGTON: New Zealand and Australia have begun talks about screening procedures for asylum seekers holding out in a Papua New Guinea detention centre, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday, amid reports of worsening health conditions there.

Australia has been refusing New Zealand’s offer to take up to 150 of the detainees from the Australian-run camp on Manus Island, but Ardern’s comments have raised speculation Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is ready to accept.

The centre was closed almost three weeks ago after PNG’s High Court ruled it was illegal, but more than 400 detainees have refused to leave, citing security concerns.

More than 150 men at the centre were seriously ill without access to basic first aid or medicine, said advocacy group Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), which is calling for safe resettlement of the men.

A team from the group visited the centre last Wednesday. “The deteriorating state of the men’s bodies was obvious,” said Jana Favero, the group’s campaigns director. “This is a medical emergency festering inside a humanitarian crisis.”

Medical conditions requiring urgent care ranged from chest pain and undiagnosed episodes of unconsciousness to infections and chronic diarrhoea among others.

Turnbull has been refusing New Zealand’s offer as he worries asylum seekers could view it as a “back door” to Australia, undermining the country’s tough immigration policies.

The UN has warned of a “looming humanitarian crisis” and urged Australia to accept New Zealand’s offer to take the men. – Reuters