This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The new Papua New Guinea government is reportedly refusing to allow Australia to close the Manus Island detention centre, leaving behind hundreds of asylum seekers, by its vaunted deadline in October.

The newly sworn-in attorney general, Davis Steven, has told Australia’s high commissioner that his government had not agreed to a 31 October closure, as flagged by Australia before the PNG election, the ABC reports.

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Steven said the Australian government had not explained its deadline or what lay ahead for men in the centre, whose prospects of resettlement in the United States under a deal with Australia remain unclear.

PNG was “not going to allow a situation where Australia has withdrawn and leaves behind all these international fugitives who they expect us to carry on our steam”, Steven said. “It’s not going to happen,” he said.

The detention centre’s ultimate closure was guaranteed when the PNG supreme court ruled the men inside had been illegally detained.

But Steven said Australia and PNG “really need to come up with a clear understanding on the transition and how we manage the aftermath of the withdrawal”.



He also said as the “chief legal adviser to government, I have not sighted a formal document that confirms that date has been mutually agreed”.

Australia, which runs the facility – one of two overseas it uses to detain asylum seekers who have tried to reach Australia by boat – had been asked to halt moves to shut it down until the PNG government’s next national executive council meeting, Steven said.

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About 700 of the men inside have been found to be refugees but it is unclear whether they will be able to resettle in the United States in a “swap” deal with Australia.

The US president, Donald Trump, has promised “extreme vetting” of the asylum seekers detained by Australia.

In a highly publicised phone call with the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, Trump was urged to stick to the deal by assessing the asylum seekers but with no obligation to accept them, according to a leaked transcript.