At an Operation Sovereign Borders media briefing on Friday, 29 November, Operation Sovereign Borders, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, in the process of boosting arrangements on Manus island, declared, “These [accommodation] faults are being rectified, and are now clearing the way for processing, which I have said has already begun.”
The Minister was quoted in similar terms in an interview with Paul Maley in The Australian on 29 November: “Mr Morrison said processing of refugee claims began on both sites [Nauru and Manus Island] a few weeks ago.”
Not so. A check at the time could not find anyone on Manus Island whose claims were being processed.
Now we know why – in fact there are no asylum claims being processed on Manus Island.
In widely reported comments yesterday (11 December), PNG Foreign Minister Rimbik Pata said PNG “still had to put in place a policy and legislative framework before any of the 1100 asylum seekers on Manus Island could be processed.” He went on to say that “processing would commence soon after required constitutional changes came into effect in February”.
Enquiries on Nauru, could find no evidence that any asylum processing had begun there either.
The only processing that has happened on Nauru was for the 80-odd souls facing dubious charges over the ‘riot’ that took place on 19 July. Some of those asylum seekers had interviews nine months ago and were told they would have answers by June – but they are still waiting. Indeed several hundred asylum seekers who were transferred from Nauru to Australia have been told their processing will start again.
“Not for the first time, the Minister has been caught out being economical with the truth about asylum seekers, “ said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The media black-out being run by the Minister has got nothing to do with providing ‘shipping news’ but everything to do with covering up the truth about the off-shore hell-holes that the Minister is running on Manus Island and Nauru.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
