Australia to ship asylum-seekers to Papua New Guinea

May 6, 2011, 0:40 GMT

Sydney - Australia could soon be shipping its unwanted asylum-seekers to Papua New Guinea in a return to the so-called Pacific Solution to boats arriving from Indonesia with mostly Middle Eastern migrants abroad.

Canberra was expected to announce Friday it had reached agreement with Port Moresby to reopen the Australian-financed, United Nations- run offshore immigration processing centre on Manus Island that closed in 2004 along with a matching centre in Nauru.

Negotiations with the government of Prime Minister Michael Somare began after East Timor refused to bow to Australia's will and host a detention centre.

In prospect is a return to processing visas in South Pacific countries that former prime minister John Howard credited with stopping the flow of boats.

After an upsurge in 2001 that saw more than 5,000 asylum-seekers arrive to fill mainland detention centres, Howard began shipping arrivals to Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where they could be processed under UN rules.

The UN's International Organization for Migration has higher hurdles for asylum than Australia does.

The imposition of the Pacific Solution saw a drastic cut in arrivals. Since the Labor government came to power in 2007 and began dismantling the Pacific Solution, arrivals have risen to an all-time record.

More than 6,000 people are in detention awaiting decisions on their visa applications. The few initially refused visas by the government usually get to stay after having their applications reviewed by an independent panel or by the courts.

Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre spokesman David Manne said a deal with Papua New Guinea was a retrograde step by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

He said it 'appears to be Australia essentially contravening its own obligations to refugees by deflecting its obligations on to another poor Pacific nation.'

The opposition Liberal Party has long called for the government to reopen the mothballed facility on Nauru and reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas that grant asylum-seekers temporary sanctuary until it is deemed it is safe for them to return to their homelands.

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