Treat Nauru with respect: PM says, revealing of half child asylum seekers have been removed

The number of asylum seeker children on Nauru has “halved” in nine weeks, Scott Morrison says, adding the island nation should be treated with respect.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says half the child asylum seekers on Nauru have been “quietly” taken off the island in the mast nine weeks. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Nauru should be treated with respect and Australians should be “tempered in our discussion” on the island nation where we hold asylum seekers, Scott Morrison says.

The Prime Minister’s comments come a day after Tony Abbott called Nauru “a very, very pleasant island” and urged Mr Morrison to hold the line on asylum seekers.

“That is the home of Nauruans — their children live there, their families live there, they go to school there,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra today.

“We should be tempered in our discussion about the nation of Nauru and I think we should treat them with respect.”

A poll in The Sunday Telegraph showed almost 80 per cent of Australians want children held on Nauru to be taken off the island. Mr Morrison said the number of asylum seeker children on the island had “halved” in the last nine weeks.

“We’ve been getting about this quietly, we haven’t been showboating about it … we’ve just been getting on with it in the appropriate way,” he said.

Mr Morrison’s comments echo those of Mr Abbott’s yesterday. The former prime minister told Sydney’s 2GB radio that Nauru was “no hellhole.”

“Nauru is no hellhole by any means. I’ve been there. If you like living the tropics, it’s a very, very pleasant island,” he said.

Bill Shorten has called on Mr Morrison to back a compromise on New Zealand’s offer to take asylum seeker children and their families for the sake of the children’s health.

“What we’ve said is that we want the New Zealand deal back on the table. What we’ve said is that we want the treating medical advice to be the dominant issue, the welfare of the children,” he told reporters in Sydney today.