Peter Dutton denies deal on asylum settlement

UNHCR calls on Malcolm Turnbull to make public all agreements relating to the resettlement of detainees on Nauru and Manus Island.

Nauru Child. Still from Chasing Asylum, the new documentary from Eva Orner.

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

The UN refugee agency today 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 United States -- a claim disputed by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, today released a statement saying it had agreed to help with the relocation of refugees to US only on the “clear understanding” that “vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there.”

“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 United States,” Mr Grandi said.

Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton.

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

Mr Grandi said the UNHCR had “no other choice” but to endorse the relocation of all refugees on Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the United States — even those with close family members in Australia.

But a spokeswoman for Mr Dutton today 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.

‘The position of the Coalition government has been clear and consistent: those transferred to RPCs will never settle in Australia,” the spokeswoman said.

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday Mr Dutton rejected the suggestion there was ever any contingency under which the government would accept refugees on Manus or Nauru into Australia.

“People will not be coming to Australia,” Mr Dutton said. “I’ve said that consistently, the Government has said it consistently, the Prime Minister has said it consistently, as did Prime Minister Abbott at the time.”

“It’s been part of the reason that we’ve been successful ... in stopping boats because we’ve taken the people smuggling model away from the people smugglers.”

The UNHCR said the position of the Australian government was “contrary to the fundamental principles of family unity and refuge protection and to common decency.”

“UNHCR fully endorses the need to save lives at sea and to provide alternatives to dangerous journeys and exploitation by smugglers. But the practice of offshore processing has had a hugely detrimental impact. There is a fundamental contradiction in saving people at sea, only to mistreat and neglect them on land.”

Under the terms of the deal negotiated between the Prime Minister and the Obama administration — and reluctantly honoured by Donald Trump — Washington agreed to resettle up to 1,250 refugees being held on Manus Island and Nauru.

The Turnbull government was forced to provide assurances within the last two weeks that the deal was still going ahead after US immigration officials interviewing detainees on Nauru left two weeks ahead of schedule.

Immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann told The Australian the statement from the UNHCR was “extraordinary” and turned up the heat on the government to release the fine print of the agreements 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 any side deal made in relation to the resettlement of refugees from Manus and Nauru with the UNHCR or anyone else.”

“I think it is incumbent on the government to do that. In the interests of transparency and openness and accountability, the government needs to come clean and release the details of the agreements.”