Refugees on Nauru hope for border policy change

Refugees on Nauru and Manus ­Island are hoping a new government will be elected and tough border policies overhauled.

Bill Shorten talks to workers at the Port of Brisbane yesterday. Picture: Liam Kidston

Refugees on Nauru and Manus ­Island have told officials they are hoping a new government will be elected and tough border security policies overhauled, delivering them a pathway to resettle in ­Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian has been told the Morrison government has ­received advice in recent days that a transferee departing for the US said his peers on Nauru and others who had already resettled in America had tried to convince him not to leave.

Another transferee even declined an offer to go to the US, wanting instead to wait for the election outcome amid thoughts of being able to go to New Zealand.

Government sources said transferees at final departure meetings were telling officials they preferred Australia over the US, and they were optimistic border protection policies would change if the Coalition lost power on May 18.

The revelations came as Bill Shorten was forced to clarify that he would not revive the Malaysia solution if he won the election, after his deputy, Tanya Plibersek, raised the spectre of the country being used as a third-party resettlement option.

Border protection took centre stage for the first time in the election campaign yesterday, amid suggestions from Ms Plibersek that a future Shorten government could ask the US to resettle more refugees than the 1250 agreed to by former leaders Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama.

The agreement was maintained by US President Donald Trump.

Ms Plibersek said Australia had to get the remaining asylum-­seekers and refugees off Manus ­Island and Nauru.

There are 531 men on Manus Island and 350 people still on Nauru.

Under the deal with the US, 515 refugees have been resettled while almost 700 are being vetted.

“We would continue to work with the US in the hope that the US would take the total number that they have ­offered and perhaps more,” Ms Plibersek told ABC radio ­yesterday.

“We’d work with New Zealand to accept their offer.

“It is beyond me why the government has not accepted their offer before this time.

“You would recall that we had, when last in government, an ­arrangement with Malaysia that the Liberals teamed up with the Greens to vote against, that would have resettled people in Malaysia with work rights, with education and healthcare, able to live in the community while they were ­assessed. So there will be third-­country options pursued as well.”

Labor sources said there were no plans to reconsider the Malaysia solution, and Ms Plibersek was simply referring to steps taken by Julia Gillard to resettle refugees.

When Mr Shorten was asked about Ms Plibersek’s comments, he said: “There’s no arrangements to talk with Malaysia. We’re not the government.”

He left open the option of ­renegotiating the US deal and ­criticised the government for failing to embrace the New Zealand offer to resettle 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

“The point about it is, if we’ve got people who have been in ­indefinite detention already for six or seven years, let’s move them on,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Let’s find third-party countries, that’s all. Let’s not fall for the government’s scare campaign.

“We are committed to maintaining strong borders. We have made it clear we will do boat turnbacks where defence authorities and border security say it is safe to do it.

“We are committed to the view that anyone who comes by boat via a people-smuggler will not be processed and settled in Australia, full stop.”

He was unable to say whether a future Shorten government would try to close the so-called back door to Australia for any refugees sent to New Zealand but insisted he would use the “same formula” as the Coalition when negotiating resettlement deals.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton seized on Ms Plibersek’s remarks to accuse her of freelancing on border protection, while Scott Morrison was dismissive of Labor being able to clinch a better agreement with the US.

“It does strike me as passing strange that the Labor Party, in particular Tanya Plibersek and Bill Shorten, who have been fairly ­colourful in their descriptions of the Trump administration, would think that they would be in a stronger position to achieve a better arrangement,” the Prime Minister said.

“I find that a little odd. We’ve still got hundreds of positions that can be filled under that ­arrangement.”

Mr Dutton said the government had not ruled out New Zealand’s offer but it was not an option “in the best interests for us” at the moment.

“People-smugglers are marketing New Zealand at this point, and the Labor Party refuses to accept that,” he said.

“As a New Zealand citizen, you have the ability to come to Australia and get a visa on arrival.

“If you want a back-door way to get to Australia, you go to New Zealand.”