Malcolm Turnbull declines Jacinda Ardern’s Manus Island refugee offer
MALCOLM Turnbull declined New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern’s offer to resettle 150 refugees despite being pressured to accept from within his own party.
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MALCOLM Turnbull has declined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island during talks in Sydney.
The two leaders met in Sydney today where they discussed the tense standoff at the detention centre along with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, terrorism, free trade and threats to regional security.
More than 600 refugees have barricaded themselves in Manus Island detention centre, which closed on Tuesday, fearful they will be attacked if they move to alternative unfenced accommodation.
Mr Turnbull ignored calls from the opposition and even a member within his own party to take the offer, saying he would first pursue a deal with the Trump administration to resettle 1250 refugees.
“We are not taking it up at this time,” he said.
“In that wake of that arrangement we can consider other ones.
“We know what the alternative looks like — tens of thousands of unlawful arrivals.”
Ms Ardern insisted the offer remained “firmly on the table” but said she understood Mr Turnbull’s reasoning.
“The agreement with the US would lead to a substantial number of refugees being resettled,” she said.
MORE: Papua New Guinea locals call for Manus centre to stay open
MORE: Peter Dutton called a ‘terrorist’ by another MP
MORE: Asylum seekers refuse to leave Manus centre
‘WE SHOULD CONSIDER NZ’S OFFER’
It comes after a government backbencher broke ranks to support sending refugees to New Zealand to help end the stand-off on Manus Island.
“We should give consideration to what New Zealand is offering,” former immigration minister Kevin Andrews told Sky News on Sunday.
“It’s a difficult problem but we should not rule out any particular solution.”
.@kevinandrewsmp says the govt should give consideration to New Zealand’s offer to resettle Manus Island refugees https://t.co/mkJkNUFPPB pic.twitter.com/gS3XNybejj
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 4, 2017
He acknowledged there were concerns about a New Zealand refugee resettlement deal establishing a pull factor for people making boat journeys or becoming a back door to Australia.
But Mr Andrews said if a deal could be crafted to work around those issues it should be given thorough consideration.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said it was in Australia’s national interest to be tough on people smuggling.
“The last thing we want to get this terrible trade under way again,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
New Zealand, which takes a total of 750 refugees a year, first made its refugee resettlement offer in 2013, to the then Labor Gillard government. The offer has been rejected more than once on the grounds it would give asylum seekers a backdoor into Australia and become a marketing opportunity for people smugglers.
Overnight, one refugee was reportedly experiencing heart problems. Food and drinking water has run out and the group is too scared to move to alternative accommodation in the main township out of fear they’ll be attacked by locals.
The last food packs were distributed on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has accused the Greens of using the remaining refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island for their own political ends.
“It’s quite distressing to see the Greens ramping up the tempo on Manus Island because I don’t want to see any incident there. It’s clear the Greens do,” Mr Dutton told ABC radio on Sunday.
Greens MP Adam Bandt had labelled Mr Dutton a “terrorist” his handling on the centre’s closure.
“If the definition of terror is to use violence and threaten people’s lives for political purposes, then Peter Dutton is a terrorist,” he told a rally in Melbourne on Saturday.
Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull declines Jacinda Ardern’s Manus Island refugee offer