Few children left on Nauru

FEWER than 10 children remain on Nauru and that number will continue to drop before the end of the year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

A push to urgently transfer sick asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to Australia has been put off until next year.

But Mr Morrison denies it was to save the federal government from a humiliating parliamentary defeat – the first of its kind since 1929.

“The government confidently maintained its position in the House of Representatives, as we did for the last three months,” he said.