Medivac ‘threats’ face top security

The PM, who visits Christmas Island today, says refugees considered threats will be placed in detention if they are evacuated from Manus or Nauru.

Newly erected tents inside the main high security detention facility on Christmas Island. Picture: Supplied

Nearly 60 refugees considered to be threats to community safety — including an alleged murderer, accused paedophiles and terrorist sympathisers — will be placed in high-security detention on Christmas Island if they are medically evacuated from Papua New Guinea and Nauru under new Labor-backed laws.

Scott Morrison will announce during a trip to Christmas Island today that 57 men who are eligible for medical evacuation but still considered dangerous will be locked up in the island’s North West Point detention centre if they are approved for medical transfer.

The facility is the most secure of the three detention centres on Christmas Island that have been reopened to accept medical ­evacuees under the Labor-backed bill forced through parliament against the government’s wishes last month.

The medivac bill, which was supported by Labor, the Greens and most of the crossbench, has left the government unable to block the transfer of refugees and ­asylum-seekers who are considered to be dangerous but are not ­subject to an adverse ASIO ­assessment and have not been sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment.

“Advice from security and ­intelligence agencies indicates a large number of single male transferees living on Manus ­Island and Nauru are preparing to use the loopholes in Labor’s medivac bill to come to ­Australia,” the Prime Minister said yesterday.

“We can’t have those ­suspected of violence, sexual crimes and abuse, including against children, to be walking the streets in Australia, as Bill Shorten would have them do.

“People with character and behavioural concerns will be held at the North West Point facility.”

Labor continues to dispute the need to reopen Christmas Island. A senior source said yesterday that Department of Home Affairs and ASIO officials did not raise the prospect with the Opposition Leader at his February 10 sec­urity briefing on the medivac bill.

Those facing high-security detention on Christmas Island include: an Iranian man allegedly charged with murder in a foreign country; a Pakistani man arrested offshore for raping a child; and a Myanmar man who transferred more than a $1 million from Nauru to Australia.

Declassified security advice also lists as eligible for transfer: an Afghan man accused of conducting a relationship with a minor overseas; a Pakistani man with ­alleged Taliban links who is ­accused of planning terrorism in Australia; and an alleged Iranian drug dealer.

Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann ­accused the government of “ridiculous scaremongering”, saying the government had the power to reject transfers on “security and serious criminality grounds”.

Mr Morrison will tour the North West Point detention centre and medical facilities ahead of the expected arrival of medical evacuees in coming weeks.

His trip, the first by a sitting Prime Minister to Christmas Island, comes amid a push by refugee groups to seize control of the medical evacuation process.

A coalition of refugee organisations has formed the Medivac Response Group, forcing the government to deal with them when processing all applications under the Labor-backed bill. The group said would-be evacuees were now being triaged by doctors and lawyers on Manus and Nauru.

The group, which includes the Refugee Council of Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International, was formed “to ensure orderly, robust and timely process of applications for transfer based on medical need”.

Refugee Council chief executive Paul Power said: “Our goal is to work together with anyone who is prepared to work constructively for practical answers for those most at risk.”

The government has warned that 300 refugees and asylum-seekers have paperwork ready from two doctors requesting they be medically evacuated to Aus­tralia under the new law.

The Medivac Response Group said it expected only a handful of applications to be made in the coming fortnight.

Immigration Minister David Coleman said: “These organisations are opposed to offshore processing and are using Labor’s law to try to end it.”

Medivacs ordered under the law will be subject to oversight by an independent health advice panel, which will be able to over-rule any applications rejected by the minister on health grounds. The Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians have put forward nominations to the panel.

As of yesterday, the government was yet to approve any of the medical practitioners put forward.

Health groups have raised concerns with the Morrison government, questioning whether panel members would have their travel costs covered and have time to work full-time in private practice.

Christmas Island residents say 15 AFP officers have arrived on the island in recent days, with more said to be on the way.

About 100 detention centre staff have also been deployed to the island since the Prime Minister announced on February 12 that the facilities would be reopened.