Australia should consider a reiterated offer from New Zealand to take 150 refugees from its offshore processing camps, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has said, as the Manus Island standoff entered its fourth day.
Shorten said the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, should take the “constructive proposal” seriously, which he said was very similar to the US deal being implemented. Shorten said there would need to be conditions in place.
“We would never countenance anything that would put the people smugglers back in business,” he said. “Australia is not and must not be a resettlement option. But it is Turnbull’s responsibility to work with other nations on resettlement options. He cannot ignore this.
“He is in the room with the New Zealand prime minister this weekend. He should have the conversation and see if we can make this proposal work.”
On Friday, the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, confirmed her Labour-led government would stand by the offer made in 2013 by the then prime minister John Key.
“I expect that the situation on Manus Island will be discussed in my meeting with prime minister Turnbull on Sunday. I intend to reaffirm our offer when we meet,” Ardern said.
“I acknowledge that, while New Zealand has not had to contend with these issues on our shores, it’s hard to ignore the human face of this situation and nor should it be ignored.”
The one-off intake offer was in relation to the situation on Manus and Nauru and the 150 people would be within New Zealand’s refugee quota. The country would also maintain its right to use “robust screening options”, Ardern said.
The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is also visiting Australia at the weekend, and Human Rights Watch has urged him – and other world leaders – to raise the refugee issue with Turnbull.
“Germany has a proud record of treating migrants humanely,” said HRW’s Australia director, Elaine Pearson.
“President Steinmeier should ask Turnbull to bring the men on Manus Island to safety. Both countries are now UN human rights council members, yet in this case Australia is clearly not living up to what one would expect of a council member.”
Late on Friday afternoon the department of immigration released a statement addressing “significant misreporting” on the Manus Island standoff, including claims that Australia “abandoned” detainees.
“The department’s staff no longer had authority to remain on the PNG Naval Base [after it closed on Tuesday] and they departed, along with other service provider personnel and PNG ICSA staff,” it said.
The department said it had assisted its PNG counterpart for seven months to gradually decommission the centre and to provide detainees with information about their options.
It maintained all three alternative accommodation units were suitable and “standing by” to receive people, with food, water, access to health services and recreational facilities.
“In addition, transport to take them from the RPC-site in comfort and security is also standing by.”
The statement did not address an assessment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which inspected one site this week and found it still under construction and “not ready” for people.
“Former-residents who choose to stay at the RPC-site are doing so fully informed that PNG has provided them with suitable alternatives and that these can be accessed at any time,” the department said.
“Any claims to the contrary are simply not true.”
About 600 refugee and asylum seeker men remain inside the decommissioned detention centre on Manus Island, and refuse to move into the community out of fear for their safety.
Many of them have barely left the centre during their years of detention, despite Papua New Guinean authorities allowing them to travel into nearby Lorengau during the past months.
Three alternative accommodation units have been built for the men to be transferred to, but at least one is not yet ready for habitation, the UN says, and the men have security concerns about the others. HRW has highlighted frequent and escalating attacks on refugees and asylum seekers.
Behrouz Boochani, a journalist and refugee inside the detention centre, said the men were hungry, did not have enough clean water, and lacked medication.
They had been given extra medication by the health provider IHMS before the closure to see them through the transition phase, but it had not anticipated the lengthy standoff. The Greens senator Nick McKim, who is in Lorengau and visited the centre this week, said some men were going through withdrawal from psychotropic medication for their mental illnesses.
Boochani said at least one man had self-harmed, and had to be treated by other detainees. At least two others had infections and a diabetic man had experienced a medical incident, he said.
Some had obtained a boat and travelled into Lorengau to get food, the Australian reported on Friday, but Boochani said they could not bring back enough for everyone. He said he did not know about reports that some local people living within the naval base had assisted the men by providing access to their water tanks.
Boochani said the navy had warned people not to assist the men.
“Yesterday a Manus missionary wanted to bring food to the refugees but the navy prevented them,” he said. “It’s really hard to describe the difficulty of the current situation.
“Nonetheless, what I’m understanding from talking with people is that they are not going to leave the prison camp.”
On Thursday the ABC reported that one man who had left and gone to Lorengau had walked more than 20km to return to the camp.
The Navy warned the refugees don't go to local houses. There are a few local houses close to the prison camp.
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) November 3, 2017
Just now the Navy & immigration prevented a boat from coming close to detention centre. They're stopping food entering into the prison camp.
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) November 3, 2017
On Monday the PNG supreme court will hear an application by lawyers acting for the detainees who are seeking an injunction against the closure, and the restoration of services. It alleges the detainees’ constitutionally protected human rights were being breached with the denial of basic and essential services.
Greg Barnes, an Australian lawyer consulting for the PNG-based legal team, told the Guardian they had added to their claim on Friday, including the prevention of “good samaritans” from entering the centre.
“They’re being denied permission to take food and water to the centre,” Barnes said. “We say that’s a further breach of constitutional rights.”
The legal team is also seeking meetings with PNG government representatives to find an agreeable end to the standoff without involving Australia, which maintains that the detainees are PNG’s responsibility.
Boochani said many of the men did not wish to go to Australia but wanted to resettle in a safe third country.
“They are so tired from Australia and don’t want to hear any more from Australia,” he said.
About 1,650 former Manus Island detainees, including some of those refusing to leave the PNG compound, are expected to receive money under a $70m compensation settlement with the Australian government and centre operators.
They are expected to be given the option to have their share of this settlement put into a trust fund.
A Victorian supreme court judge has already approved Australia’s largest human rights class action settlement but has to give permission for the payments to be made.
Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, insists the country will not change its asylum seeker policy, despite the deal with the US to accept some vetted refugees.
Ardern’s visit is also being viewed as an opportunity to smooth over any lingering awkwardness from comments made by the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, during the New Zealand election campaign, when she questioned whether she could trust a New Zealand Labour government in the heat of the Barnaby Joyce citizenship saga.
On Friday morning three women were arrested in Sydney after chaining themselves together at immigration department offices. The women were part of a group of protesters staging sit-ins at the department’s Sydney and Canberra offices.
