Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dodged a question in parliament on February 4 over whether he would deport 91 asylum-seeking children at the centre of a controversial High Court decision that ruled offshore detention centres are legal. When Greens MP Adam Bandt asked Turbull whether he would let the children, including 33 born in Australia, stay in the country, the prime minister blasted the Greens and previous Labor policies on border security and refugee safety. “If the government were to follow the policy advocated by the Greens party in this regard, the consequence would not simply be tens of thousands of unauthorised arrivals coming to Australia. It will be thousands of death at sea,” said Turnbull. He also criticised the previous Labor government’s policies on refugees, which he said was supported by the Greens, saying it resulted in a “complete collapse of security at the border” and that it was the cause for deaths at sea. Turnbull said the number of migrants who were detained after reaching Australian waters had gone from zero to two thousand people in five years under the previous Labor government. “Since coming back into office, the coalition government has stopped the boats, it has reduced the number of children to a hundred. Our goal is to reduce that to zero,” said Turnbull. Credit: ParlTV

The five-year-old boy allegedly raped on Nauru does not exist, a Senate committee has been told.

“There is no five-year-old child, it’s a figment,” immigration department secretary Michael Pezzullo told an estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday.

He blamed refugee advocates for making inaccurate allegations and media advocacy “parading as journalism”.

The department followed up the claims with pediatrician Karen Zwi who raised concerns about a case.

She did not say the child was five or had been raped, as reported by the ABC.

Department official Cheryl-Anne MoY told the hearing the child at the centre of the claims was actually more than twice that age. “The allegation was of a sexual assault from another child who was two years older - it was physical skin-to-skin contact,” she said.

“It wasn’t an allegation of rape.” The hearing was told the boy is now living in the community in NSW and receiving appropriate care.

“It would be very helpful for advocates ... to get their facts right,” Mr Pezzullo said.

Refugee advocates seized on the rape claim ahead of the High Court rejecting a challenge to Australia’s offshore processing arrangements.

The case had implications for 267 asylum seekers receiving medical attention in Australia who are now faced with being sent back to Nauru.

TURNBULL’S DIRE BOAT WARNING TO PREMIERS

MALCOLM Turnbull is holding firm on the government’s tough asylum-seeker policy after yesterday slapping down a push from the states to allow boat arrivals to stay in Australia.

The PM warned the premiers that they risked a “colossal” humanitarian failure if the boats policy was “unpicked” for the 267 illegal arrivals who are earmarked for a return to Nauru.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews attempted to pull apart the border policy at the weekend, telling Mr Turnbull in a letter that he was “obligated” to make an exception for the group who had come to Australia from Nauru for medical help.

Victoria offered to take the entire group, including 37 babies and 54 children.

NSW Premier Mike Baird and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk indicated they would be open to accepting the illegal arrivals if Mr Turnbull requested it.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill backed Mr Andrews’ approach.

The group is due to be sent back to Nauru after the High Court last week emphatically found by a six-to-one majority that the federal government’s Nauru policy was constitutional.

Federal agency advice to Mr Turnbull indicates sophisticated people-smuggling networks are monitoring every statement his government makes on the issue in the hope it could be used as a marketing tool to reignite the dangerous boat trade.

A defiant Mr Turnbull said he would not tinker with the boats policy.

“People who seek to come to Australia with people smugglers will not succeed,’’ he said.

“What I’m not going to do is give one skerrick of encouragement to those criminals, those people smugglers, who are preying on vulnerable people and seeking to take their money, put them on the high seas in boats where, like as not, they will drown.”

Mr Turnbull was referring to the hundreds of asylum seekers who drowned in rickety boats during the past two Labor governments, including 50 who perished when a boat sank at Christmas Island in December 2010.

Australia remains in negotiations with several nations in the Asia-­Pacific region to act as a third country alternative instead of Nauru.

The 267 asylum seekers are made up of children and adults who were flown to Australia from Nauru because they needed medical attention.

CHINESE BURN AS MINISTER IRKS THE PM

Those requiring medical attention were allowed to be joined by their families and 37 babies were born in Australia during the period.

Australia will not return any until their health is cleared. All will be treated on a case-by-case basis.

There is some speculation some of the children with significant issues may ultimately stay in Australia.

“We are dealing with these issues ... on a case-by-case basis,’’ the PM said.

NSW will take the majority of the 12,000 persecuted Syrian refugees who will arrive over the next year.

Mr Baird said he was prepared to take some of the refugees set to be returned to Nauru, but only if the Commonwealth asked.

“The same impulse has driven us to work co-operatively with the Commonwealth to resettle an additional intake of refugees in NSW following the recent turmoil in Syria,” he said.

Last night, Mr Turnbull said he had had a long and “cordial” discussion with Mr Andrews and asked him not to play politics on the issue.