Australia, US agree refugee resettlement deal for people held at Manus, Nauru

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought to downplay concerns that a one-off refugee resettlement deal with the United States could be cancelled once President-elect Donald Trump assumes office in January.

He did not specify what Australia’s obligation will be as part of the deal, although it is likely to involve Australian intake of South American refugees who are now in a processing centre in Costa Rica.

“However, unlike Cambodia, the United States is a rich country, has a well-established and well-resourced refugee resettlement program”.

It was unclear how the resettlement deal would proceed, with Donald Trump taking over the White House on January 20 after winning the United States election this week. “You don’t discuss confidential matters with one administration with a future administration”, he told the Nine Network on Monday.

Papua New Guinea has said it will close the Manus Island centre, but the Nauru facility will remain open. Al Jazeera reports 15 percent of the 410 refugees on the island of Nauru have either attempted suicide or have had suicidal thoughts.

The resettlement deal came after Turnbull’s government agreed in September to accept people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of Australia’s annual intake of 18,750 asylum seekers, to support a resettlement plan for Central Americans drawn up by Washington.

“The work that the Coalition government has done in keeping our borders secure has enabled us to reach this agreement”, Mr Turnbull said.

Australia has been repeatedly criticised for its tough policy on refugees and asylum seekers.

There are around 1,200 people kept in detention centers on Papua New Guinea’s Manus island and the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru.

Turnbull said Australia has launched a massive naval fleet in anticipation of people smugglers seeking to exploit news of the deal by marketing boat journeys to desperate asylum seekers. The voyages are extremely risky and have resulted in numerous deaths at sea.

Australia has confirmed asylum seekers being held on its offshore detention centres on the islands will be offered a resettlement deal in the United States.

“There are some people who if the United States is offered to them, certainly they will take it”, Rintoul said, adding that several would prefer Australia where they have family. Observers have been heavily critical of living standards made available to asylum seekers in the centres which have been described as Australia’s version of “Guantanamo Bay”. It has agreed additionally to take in 12,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.

While the government was pushing the Senate last week to back legislation for a lifetime ban on resettled refugees coming to Australia, he told Sky News that the issue was largely “hypothetical”. It is not known whether or not Mr Trump would be too late to abolish it.

I think it’s fairly important this is a huge announcement.

The Federal Greens immigration spokesman Senator Nick McKim questioned the lack of certainty surrounding the deal. “He is a businessman, a deal maker and he will, I have no doubt, view the world in a very practical and pragmatic way”.