Australia Promises to Maintain 'Hard-Line' Approach to Refugees

Protesters react as they hold placards and listen to speakers during a rally in support of refugees in central Sydney, Australia, Oct. 19, 2015. | Photo:

The Australian government said it would maintain its hard-line policy against accepting “illegal” refugees who reach their shores. Papua New Guinea said Wednesday it will close an Australian immigration center on the infamous Manus Island after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, but Australia announced it would still refuse more than 800 asylum seekers detained there.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said the detention center would close after the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the detentions breached the country's constitution and would have to stop.

O'Neill said he would ask Australia to make arrangements for the asylum seekers held on Manus Island, adding they would be able to stay in Papua New Guinea if they wanted.

However, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton stressed the success of Australia's hard-line policy, a policy which has been strongly criticized by the United Nations and human rights agencies.

"The government's position is very clear—that is that we are not going to accept people who have sought to come to our country illegally by boat," Dutton told reporters in Melbourne. "They will not settle permanently in our country."

Under Australian law, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru or to Manus Island off Papua New Guinea.

The detainees on Manus and Nauru are mostly refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia.

A second case concerning the fate of the detainees on Manus is set to be heard by the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court later this week.

The news comes hours after a refugee man from Iran set himself on fire at a refugee settlement site in Nauru, in what the Nauruan Government has described as a "political protest."

The detention center on Nauru houses about 500 people and has been widely criticized by the United Nations and human rights agencies for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse.

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