By Adam Gartrell
The Turnbull government will ramp up its boat turnback operations to ensure the people smuggling route from Indonesia remains closed after it unveils a new international refugee resettlement deal.
The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is expected to confirm on Sunday the government has done a deal with the United States and possibly a handful of other countries to resettle many of the 1300 people languishing on Nauru and Manus Island.
It is understood those who have been judged to be genuine refugees will be given the option of resettling in the third countries or returning to their country of origin as the government seeks to close the offshore detention centres.
It is not yet clear what will happen to those detainees who have already had their refugee applications rejected, or to those who have immediate family in Australia and want to reunite with them.
Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton are expected to announce a new deal this weekend.Credit: Michele Mossop
But it is understood Mr Turnbull will announce measures to ensure the deal doesn't become a "pull factor" – a marketing tool for people smugglers throughout the region to convince asylum seekers to board boats. This is expected to include a renewed focus on the frontline activities of Operation Sovereign Borders.
There has been speculation of a deal with the US for months, particularly since Mr Turnbull announced Australia would partner with the US to take Central American refugees from camps in Costa Rica.
The man who successfully killed off Labor's Malaysian people swap deal in the High Court in 2011, lawyer and refugee advocate David Manne, has thrown cautious support behind a US deal, pending the details.
"The fundamental difference with this deal is the US – unlike Malaysia – is a country that has signed up the Refugee Convention, and has its own laws and practices to protect refugees and it has a long history of doing so," he said.
Almost 400 detainees are held on the island of Nauru.Credit: J Jeremiah
"On that basis it is at fundamental odds with the Malaysia solution, which was about transferring people against their will to a country that was not a signatory to the Refugee Convention – and still isn't – but also didn't have its own laws to process or protect refugees. Indeed, it has a long history of mistreating refugees."
However, Mr Manne said he could not rule out legal challenges to the deal if it involved coercion, rather than being voluntary, or if it involved people being sent to dangerous non-convention countries.
Immigration lawyer David Manne.Credit: Craig Sillitoe
"I certainly wouldn't discount the possibility," he said.
Labor has already signalled it will support a resettlement deal with the US. However, Mr Dutton has ruled out any third party resettlement until Labor passes its lifetime visa ban in the Parliament.
The Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, and his party room last week ruled out supporting the legislation to prevent people who arrived by boat after July 2013 ever travelling to Australia for any purpose. But the Opposition may be forced to rethink its stance if the resettlement deal hinges on it.According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection there were 396 people in Nauru and 873 on Manus Island as of September 30.