Dozens come to Australia under Labor’s medevac Bill

Dozens of refugees have started to arrive in Australia for medical treatment under the controversial “medevac Bill”, but that’s not the only number that has the Government concerned.

MORE than 30 refugees have been brought to Australia for medical treatment under the controversial “medevac Bill”, while not one person has been transferred to Christmas Island since the detention facilities expensive reopening.

It comes as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton reveals the US is unlikely to take the full 1250 refugee transfers previously flagged.

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Mr Dutton confirmed yesterday that just over 30 refugees from detention in Nauru and Manus Island had come to Australia for treatment under the medevac legislation passed in February during the previous Parliament.

Refugee men at the Nauru compound walk near the entry gate of detention camp 2.

He said there were no serious criminals transferred, but that it remained a risk.

“We don’t bring anyone to our country where we can’t mitigate the risk. I made that very clear,” Mr Dutton told the ABC.

While Mr Dutton said he believed Labor was open to amending the medevac laws, his Opposition counterpart Kristina Keneally said he had to explain why it should be changed.

“Since the passage of the medevac legislation we have seen dozens of people transferred to Australia from Manus and Nauru,” she said.

“It’s up to the Government to explain why, if at all, the medevac legislation needs to be changed.”

Mr Dutton also said that there had been 531 detainees from Nauru and Manus Island transferred to the US, under the refugee deal struck by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and then President Barack Obama.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says he does not believe the US will take the full 1250 asylum seekers originally agreed to by Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama.

While there are another 295 in the pipeline for consideration, Mr Dutton said he did not believe the full contingent of 1250 transfers would be reached.

“There’s been over 300 (refugees) that have been rejected by the United States for various reasons,” he said.

“They’re a sovereign state. They will make decisions about who they will bring under their migration program.”

Senator Keneally said the government should provide more detail on why the full contingent 1250 transfers would not be reached.

“It’s disappointing if that’s a conclusion the government has come to,” she said.

Originally published as Dozens come to Australia under Labor’s medevac Bill