Australia to send refugee medical transfers to REMOTE PACIfiC ISLAND
Canberra: Asylum seekers who are allowed to leave Australian-run migrant camps in Pacific nations to get medical treatment will be sent to a prison-like facility on a remote Australian island, the Prime Minister has said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison flew to tiny Christmas Island on an overnight flight to announce his government’s strategy on March 6, aimed at preventing asylum seekers from reaching the Australian mainland.
The island is 5170km (3210 miles) northwest of the Australian capital, Canberra, and is closer to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. Australia pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea to accommodate almost 1000 asylum seekers who have attempted to reach the Australian coastline by boat since 2013. Boats carrying asylum seekers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia had been arriving daily from Indonesian ports, but the smuggling attempts have all but stopped since the government announced that no refugees who arrive by boat will ever be allowed to settle in Australia. Medical evacuations have proven to be
Prime Minister Scott Morrison flew to tiny Christmas Island on an overnight flight to announce his government’s strategy on March 6, aimed at preventing asylum seekers from reaching the Australian mainland.
a crack in the policy. Sick asylum seekers often have to fight the government in court for permission to be transferred to an Australian hospital, but hundreds granted that permission have received court injunctions that prevent their return to the islands.