THE Government is losing control of its Pacific Solution as Papua New Guinea evicts Australia from Manus Island and 900 asylum seekers detained there refuse to budge.

The detainees are threatening to stay put in the hope of forcing Australia to take them in, which the Government is vowing won’t happen.

But the PNG Government is insisting the fate of the men is Australia’s responsibility and it cannot force them to resettle within PNG.

If Australia does not get extra time on Manus, the detainees, all men, could be sent to Nauru, which the Government says has spare capacity.

Critical talks between PNG and Australia are expected next week just as the Turnbull Government wants to focus on Tuesday’s Budget and the start of the July 2 election campaign.

It is certain that PNG will be seeking more aid from Australia, possibly as part of a deal to legislate away the eviction ordered by its Supreme Court.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has even suggested that if the closure goes ahead, there should be compensation “to minimise damage to businesses and workers”.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has made clear the detainees — of whom 400 are officially classified as refugees — will not be allowed into Australia, arguing this would encourage people smugglers to send more asylum seekers here on dangerous sea voyages.

But he can’t compel them to live in Papua New Guinea and does not have a third country willing to accept them, and where they would volunteer to live.

Mr Dutton has said their only other option for them to return to their home country. However, that could be dangerous for many of them.

The crisis is a definitive test of the Government’s determination and competence on a politically sensitive issue.

It arrived suddenly after the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court this week ruled the Manus detention centre, which has cost $1 billion over four years, was unconstitutional and had to close. There was no avenue for appeal.

The Government did not appear prepared for the decision although one PNG diplomat today said it had been “on the horizon for months”.

Mr Dutton did not have a comprehensive response apart from rejecting attempts to send the detained men here, and attacking Labor criticisms.

The Labor Opposition is equally bound to the future of the Manus Island detention centre, which is also a fixture of its asylum seeker policy and was set up by former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd.

But while the Opposition cannot criticise the Government’s broad policy, it can attack the management of the issue by Mr Dutton as the impasse drags on.

Manus was set up as a processing centre and was not created as a

permanent facility. Once asylum seekers were processed, the centre was to be dismantled.

However, Coalition governments have found it cannot find other destinations for the men there, and it has in effect become a jail.

Just seven detainees have moved to the PNG mainland, and some of them have been so unhappy they have said they want to return to Manus.

The Government’s claim to be the most competent manager of asylum seekers has been badly dented by the PNG order. The lack of a comprehensive response this week indicated it was taken by surprise.

Mr Dutton today told Channel 9 the Government had been “planning for this since late last year”.

But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Government did not have a “road map” to deal with the court decisions.

And Mr Dutton appeared to dob in his leader, saying, “Well the Prime Minister’s has been part of these discussions for a long period of time.”

Labor’s immigration spokesman Richard Arles today said Mr Dutton should be in Port Moresby “dealing with this issue and articulating a contingency pan”.