Aus to end PNG asylum processing

AUSTRALIA will end a controversial arrangement which sees asylum seekers processed offshore in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Canberra government announced Wednesday.

In 2013, the Australian government introduced the widely criticized policy of incarcerating asylum seekers trying to reach the country illegally by boat in immigration processing facilities on PNG’s Manus Island and on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the arrangement with PNG would cease on December 31 of this year and not be renewed.

“Australia’s strong border protection policies - including regional processing - have not changed. Anyone who attempts to enter Australia illegally by boat will be returned, or sent to Nauru,” the statement read.

Andrews said that, until the end of the year, Australia would “support anyone subject to regional processing arrangements in PNG who wishes to voluntarily transfer to Nauru,” while from January the PNG government “will assume full management of regional processing services in PNG and full responsibility for those who remain.” PNG will provide a pathway to permanent migration, including citizenship, for those who want to remain in the country and support those awaiting to be transferred to a third country.

As of July, there were 124 asylum seekers in PNG, according to Australia’s AAP news agency, while around 107 are in detention on Nauru.

The Canberra government has argued in the past that the incarceration programme discourages asylum seekers from trying to come to Australia by boat, stopping deaths at sea and disrupting human trafficking.

Between 2008 and 2013, more than 50,000 people arrived in Australia and over 1,100 died at sea, according to government figures.

Between 2008 and 2013, more than 50,000 people arrived in Australia and over 1,100 died at sea, according to government figures