Offshore detention: ‘(It’s) caused extensive, avoidable suffering for far too long’

THERE are new claims the Australian government told the UN it would resettle refugees in offshore detention on the mainland but later denied everything.

A March 21, 2014 image of asylum seekers behind a fence at the Oscar compound in the Manus Island detention centre, Papua New Guinea. Picture: AAP / Eoin Blackwell.

AUSTRALIA last November told the United Nations some refugees on Manus Island and Nauru would be settled on the mainland, the body’s refugee chief claimed today.

The claim directly clashed with statements by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton as recently as Sunday that none of the remaining 2000 refugees would be allowed into Australia.

The Turnbull Government has consistently said Australian settlement was not an option and has been seeking third-country support.

But head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, issued a press release calling for an end to the offshore processing begun under Labor.

“Australia’s policy of offshore processing in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, which denies access to asylum in Australia for refugees arriving by sea without a valid visa, has caused extensive, avoidable suffering for far too long,” Mr Grandi said.

He said last November the UNHCR made an exception and agreed to help relocate refugees under an agreement Australia had with the United States.

“We agreed to do so on the clear understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there,” Mr Grandi said.

“UNHCR has recently been informed by Australia that it refuses to accept even these refugees, and that they, along with the others on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, have been informed that their only option is to remain where they are or to be transferred to Cambodia or to the

United States.”

The UNHCR statement will fuel suggestions the Government had been playing a double game — saying one thing to the UN and another to voters.

Last week former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he had in July 2013 started offshore processing with a 12 month limit on the centre on Manus Island.

The limit had been negotiated with the Papua-New Guinea government.

Opposition Leader and other senior Labor figures said Mr Rudd was on record saying none of the refugees would ever settle here.

But Mr Dutton said the former Prime Minister’s statement showed Labor could not be trusted to stop-the-boats and that the people smugglers would restart under a Labor government.

Mr Grandi said the block on settlement would mean “some with serious medical conditions, or who have undergone traumatic experiences, including sexual violence, cannot receive the support of their close family members residing in Australia”.

“To avoid prolonging their ordeal, UNHCR has no other choice but to endorse the relocation of all refugees on Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the United States, even those with close family members in Australia.”