Peter Dutton, Julie Bishop deny US refugee deal is a ‘people-swap’

Revelations Australia signed an agreement with the US on refugees have fuelled accusations of a “people-swap” deal.

Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

Revelations that Australia signed a written agreement with the US in September committing both nat­ions to co-operate on refugee resettlement have fuelled fresh ­accusations of a secret “people-swap” deal with Washington.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday backed away from comments he made on Tuesday in which he appeared to ­accept that a deal for Australia to take refugees from Costa Rica was contingent on Washington re­settling those held on Manus ­Island and Nauru.

Speaking on breakfast radio in Melbourne, Mr Dutton clarified his comments by saying the two refugee deals were “separate” ­arrangements.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, visiting Washington to meet Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, also poured cold water on the notion of a people-swap.

“That’s not the way I would characterise it,” she said. “We are seeking to resettle a number of people who came via the people-smuggling trade and have been in Nauru, in particular, with the US.”

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton initially told conservative commentator Andrew Bolt on Sky News that Australia’s decision to accept refugees from Costa Rica was not part of a “people-swap” but said he had no problem with the term being used. “I don’t have any problem with that characterisation if people want to put that. I mean, I act in our best national interest, I think we’ve done that in this deal,” he said.

Speculation about a people-swap deal intensified yesterday when it emerged that Australia entered into a “mutual assistance agreement” last September when Malcolm Turnbull visited New York for the UN leaders’ summit on refugees.

The Australian understands the agreement was not signed at a ministerial level by the Prime Minister or any senior government minister but was finalised at an official level. However, the agreement specifically identified the resettling of refugees as a key area of mutual interest.

Under the deal with Australia, President Donald Trump has agreed to take up to 1250 people from Nauru and Manus Island but will subject all refugees to “extreme vetting”. US officials were conducting interviews on Manus as recently as Monday.

The government has always maintained it separately agreed to take in refugees from Central America as part of a broad multilateral effort given voice through the “protection transfer agreement” brokered last year.

Government sources also informed The Australian the two deals could not be properly characterised as a “people-swap” because Australia would be ­accepting only a small number of refugees from Costa Rica.

Mr Dutton has said he expected refugees from Manus Island and Nauru to begin being resettled in the US “in the next couple of months” despite Mr Trump labelling the deal, struck under Barack Obama’s presidency, as “dumb”.

Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann yesterday accused Ms Bishop and Mr Dutton of contradicting each other on the deal, saying the government was beset by “dysfunction, disunity and division … Refugees on Manus Island and Nauru have been left to languish for too long in offshore detention because the Turnbull government has failed to secure third country resettlement options”.