Manus Islanders protest over PNG deal

OPPOSITION to the Manus Island asylum processing centre escalated yesterday with locals blocking access to two sites.

OPPOSITION to the Manus Island asylum processing centre escalated yesterday with locals blocking access to two sites important for operating and extending the Australian-run facility under the PNG Solution.

Frustrated Manus Islanders blocked access for the centre to the local gravel pit that supplies building materials, including for cement making.

They also blockaded the local rubbish tip.

Manus MP Ron Knight said this was because local companies had failed to win the spin-off business they had anticipated from the construction of the centre, and because workers brought from elsewhere in Papua New Guinea were being paid more than locals.

He told The Australian that Manus residents would meet tomorrow to consider blocking access to the centre, which is being developed at the Lombrum naval base. There was discussion yesterday about taking this further step, but the residents held back.

Mr Knight said he would prefer that "the whole thing is closed down until after the election".

A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration said: "The entrance to the Lombrum naval base is not being obstructed, and ongoing operations at the centre are not being affected."

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said if the Coalition were elected on September 7 it would "immediately" seek clarification of the deal struck between Kevin Rudd and PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill on July 19.

"There appear to be different expectations on the part of PNG from what the Rudd government announced," Ms Bishop said.

She said after learning the details of the deal -- in which all asylum-seekers to arrive after July 19 will be processed in PNG with no hope of resettlement in Australia -- "we shall then review the position".

Mr Knight said the company G4S, responsible for security at the centre, was underpaying workers from Manus, and that contracts for work there had gone to Australian businesses, and those from other parts of PNG.

Simon Kauba, PNG's acting police commissioner, who visited Manus from last Thursday to Saturday, said the atmosphere seemed "quite positive and peaceful". "There was no mention of blockades while I was there," he said. "If there was any trouble, my provincial police commander would have contacted me."

Mr O'Neill said last night PNG "remains 100 per cent committed" to the deal with Australia. "People who are found to be refugees, identified through the process in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, will be settled in PNG and other participating (in the refugee convention) countries in the region."