Detainees ‘deal’ puts Coalition under fire from Labor

Labor has demanded Malcolm Turnbull make public all deals relating to the resettlement of ­detainees.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

Labor has seized on an “extraordinary” statement from the UN refugee agency to call on Malcolm Turnbull to make public all deals relating to the resettlement of ­detainees on Nauru and Manus ­Island.

The UN refugee agency yesterday claimed the Turnbull government had agreed to accept detainees from Nauru and Manus Island into Australia as part of the refugee resettlement deal with the US — a claim disputed by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said the agency had agreed to help with the relocation of refugees to the US only on the “clear understanding” that “vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there (in Australia)”.

But Mr Grandi then ­accused the Turnbull government of only recently notifying the UN refugee agency that it had no ­intention of accepting refugees with family links to Australia in a breach of the understanding reached last year.

“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 US,” Mr Grandi said.

“This means, for example, that some with serious medical conditions or who have undergone traumatic experiences, including sexual violence, cannot receive the support of their close family members resigning in Australia.”

But a spokeswoman for Mr Dutton yesterday said the Turnbull government had never changed its position and stood by previous statements that those on Manus Island and Nauru would never be accepted into Australia.

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday Mr Dutton also rejected the suggestion there was ever any contingency under which the government would accept such refugees.

Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann said yesterday the statement from the UNHCR was “extraordinary”, and he turned up the heat on the government to release the fine print of the deal it had entered into.

“We have repeatedly called for more transparency and for the government to release the details of the US-Australia resettlement agreement and I am calling on the government to do so again, (as well as) any side deal made in relation to the resettlement of refugees from Manus and Nauru with the UNHCR or anyone else,” he said.