PNG PM James Marape demands timeline on closing Manus

New PM James Marape to push Scott Morrison over shutting down offshore processing.

Papua New Guinea's new prime minister, James Marape will visit Australia next week. Picture: AFP.

Papua New Guinea’s new Prime Minister will push Scott Morrison for a timeline on ultimately shutting down the offshore processing regimen on Manus Island.

James Marape — who will come to Australia next week on an official state visit — said this morning that he wants to see offshore processing in his country end as “soon as possible”.

The PNG Prime Minister’s comments come six years after Kevin Rudd set up the Manus Island facility prior to the 2013 federal election in a deal with Mr Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill.

“We would like it to be ended as soon as possible … I’ve met (Home Affairs) Minister Peter Dutton already; I’ve asked him to expedite the processing of asylum seekers,” Mr Marape told the ABC.

“We need to establish a timeline going forward … There are genuine refugees and there are also non-genuine refugees.

“What happens to the rest of them we have in (our) country?

“These are human beings we’re dealing with. We can’t leave them all hanging in space with no serious consideration into their future.”

The number of refugees held on Manus Island has fallen since the deal with the United States to take asylum seekers who arrive by boat, but there are still nearly 450 of them on Manus Island.

The continued offshore processing regimen has been a source of political controversy in PNG.

Mr Marape’s weeklong tour will be the first official “guest-of-government” visit since the Prime Minister won re-election, though he will meet with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today.

Mr Marape, 48, was elected Prime Minister on May 30 having previously served as finance minister and education minister.

A father of six and son of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, Mr Marape has arts and environmental science degrees from the University of Papua New Guinea and entered parliament in 2002.

Australia’s step-up in engagement with the Pacific was earmarked as one of our highest priorities in the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and has been a key focus for Mr Morrison since he became prime minister last year.

In November Mr Morrison announced Australia would be “taking our engagement to a new level” in what would be a “new chapter in relations with our Pacific family”, announcing Australia would establish five new diplomatic missions in the Pacific and establish an Office of the Pacific within the Department of Foreign Affairs.