Migrants could be sent to Philippines
Australia is in talks to send refugees who try to reach its shores illegally to the Philippines, the immigration minister says.
Australia already has a multimillion-dollar deal to resettle refugees from an Australian-run detention camp on Nauru to Cambodia. But so far, only four refugees have taken up the offer of cash, free health insurance and accommodation to move from Nauru to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
This has prompted critics to dub the deal an expensive flop, and has sent the government looking for another solution.
Australia refuses to accept any refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat. It pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has a detention centre on Manus Island, to hold them instead.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that the government had been in talks with several countries, including the Philippines, about resettling its refugees in those nations.
‘‘We have been very open to discussions for a long period of time with those partners, because we have been very clear about the fact that people on Nauru and people on Manus who have sought to come to our country illegally by boat won’t be settling in Australia,’’ Dutton said.
‘‘We have a bilateral arrangement with Cambodia. If we can strike other arrangements with other countries, we will do that.’’
The Cambodia deal has been widely condemned by human rights groups, who say the southeast Asian nation is hardly an ideal home for refugees given its long history of poverty, corruption and human rights abuses. The potential for a deal with the Philippines has prompted similar concerns.
Dutton was asked what guarantees of safety Australia could give refugees who resettled in a nation grappling with violent kidnappings and terrorism. ‘‘We can provide the same guarantees that we can to Australians that travel to the Philippines each year, the expats that live in the Philippines and across southeast Asia or other parts of the world,’’ he replied, adding that refugees would be resettled there on a voluntary basis only.
Dutton declined to release further details, including a time frame for the deal or how many refugees could be resettled.
Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition, said the potential deal demonstrated how desperate the government had become to find an alternative to its Cambodia programme.
Green senator Sarah HansonYoung said Australia was once again passing its responsibility to care for refugees on to another poor country.
Australian immigration minister