Australia asylum: Philippines in talks to take refugees Published duration 9 October 2015

image copyright Getty Images image caption Australia receives asylum seekers mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran

Australia says it is in talks to potentially resettle refugees who tried to reach its shores illegally in the Philippines.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said both countries had yet to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

A similar deal with Cambodia has been criticised as an expensive failure.

Asylum seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are currently being held at offshore detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Australia says its measures - supported by both the main political parties - have deterred human traffickers and saved lives.

However, activists have reported harsh conditions and abuses at the offshore camps, and are urging Australia to soften its stance.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by sea have been moved to offshore detention centres in the Pacific

Under current immigration policy, even those eventually found to be genuine refugees are denied the chance to settle in Australia.

Australia's previous prime minister, Tony Abbott, struck a deal for settling refugees in Cambodia, promising the country an additional A$40m (£19m; $29m) in aid - regardless of the number of refugees transferred.

Since then, however, only four refugees have agreed to be moved to Cambodia, prompting criticism of the deal - and a search for other possible partners.

"We have a bilateral arrangement with Cambodia," Mr Dutton told reporters on Friday. "If we can strike other arrangements with other countries, we will do that."

"If we can strike an agreement that is in the best interests of our country and from the Philippines' perspective, their country, we will arrive at that point," he said.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Protesters and activists have been urging the government to soften its stance on asylum

Australia's top court is meanwhile reviewing the legality of the offshore camps housing Australia-bound asylum seekers.

At a High Court hearing this week, activists argued that the government had violated the constitution by funding the offshore centres.

The court has yet to announce its decision, in what is being seen as a test of the government's immigration policy.

The case was brought on behalf of detainees from the offshore camps who were moved to Australia for medical treatment, including a pregnant Bangladeshi woman who now has a 10-month-old child.

Activists say the government does not have the right to send the detainees back to the camps.

Australia's new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended the offshore migrant detention centres - a central policy of his predecessor Tony Abbott - by saying they save lives.

Australia and asylum

Many asylum seekers - mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran - travelled to Australia's Christmas Island by boat from Indonesia.

The number of boats rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013. Scores of people died making the journey.

To stop the influx, the government adopted hard-line measures intended as a deterrent.

Everyone who arrives by boat is now detained and processed in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Those found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, Nauru or Cambodia.