Men make voluntary transfers, saying they don’t know if life will be better, but need a change after five years on Manus

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A group of refugees have left Manus Island and are moving to Nauru while they wait for resettlement in a third country.

Guardian Australia has confirmed at least eight men were told they could transfer from the immigration facility on the Papua New Guinea island to its equivalent in Nauru.

It is understood they departed on Thursday morning amid a worsening health crisis on Manus.

The group will arrive in Nauru on Thursday afternoon and will spend the night in the RPC1 section of the detention centre, before moving into the community accomodation units.

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On Friday the men will be given medical assessments and their refugee income support payments.

The transfers are voluntary, and one man said he didn’t know if Nauru would be any better but after more than five years on Manus he needed some change.

“At least I would be able to manage it because it’s a new place for me,” he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs said PNG-determined refugees would never settle in Australia but had a “range of durable migration options, including temporarily relocating to Nauru to await third-country resettlement”.

Further questions were referred to the PNG and Nauruan governments.

It comes as the new independent MP for Wentworth, Dr Kerryn Phelps, prepared to introduce a private members bill to provide for urgent medical transfers to Australia for critically ill men, women and children remaining in offshore detention.

A deal between the US and Australia to resettle up to 1,200 refugees from the two camps is ongoing, but moving slowly. Hundreds have moved to the US but rejections are adding to mental distress, refugees on the islands have said. Others have not applied out of fear for their safety as a Muslim in the US, or fear that a rejection would hurt their chances resettling elsewhere.

A deal with Cambodia – which cost more than $40m and took fewer than 10 refugees – has lapsed. The Australian government maintains its refusal of an offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 refugees a year.

Under Australia’s offshore processing regime, single adult men have been detained and housed on Manus Island. Families, women and unaccompanied minors were sent to Nauru.

In recent months residents of the refugee and asylum seeker accommodation on Manus Island have reported a worsening crisis of mental and physical health, with allegations the local clinic has refused to accept some patients for transfer to Port Moresby.

There have been multiple acts of self-harm, and suicide attempts.

Just days before the start of the Apec conference in Port Moresby, the PNG government flew dozens of men who were in the city for specialised treatment back to Manus Island – whether they had received treatment or not – citing “security preparations”.

Hundreds of men were party to a legal challenge against the PNG government, demanding compensation for unlawful detention and seeking travel documents to allow them – as resettled refugees – to travel within and outside the country.

However that case was dismissed on a technicality.

There are far fewer people remaining on Nauru after a series of medical transfers to Australia amid a campaign from medical and human rights groups, and moderate members of the government. About 15 children are left on the island.

On Tuesday a petition signed by 170,000 people and 400 organisations calling for an immediate evacuation was delivered to Greens and independent MPs, including Kerryn Phelps, who said she would give it to the prime minister.

Organisations including Amnesty International Australia and MSF have called for all refugees and asylum seekers to be evacuated from Nauru and Manus.