But it has since emerged refugees will not be entitled to local citizenship, with Mr Adeang also telling Fairfax Media on Tuesday they would not be allowed passports to leave the isolated island and fetch supplies – a practice common for Nauruans. The deal, known as a memorandum of understanding, does mention settlement of refugees with families and children, expected to make up a “low” number of places. But while Nauru has insisted people will eventually leave, it has also begun citing past experience with phosphate workers who stayed for decades. “It is hard to put a number to that [the time on the island]. It will be subject to how well we get on with each other. We will take it on a case-by-case basis,” Mr Adeang said. Opposition MP and former Nauru foreign minister Kieren Keke sought to raise concern over settling refugees on the tiny island in a local-language interview with Nauru TV on Monday.

But Mr Adeang blocked the interview going to air – in what is now the second time in a fortnight he has interfered in broadcasts. “I understand what he is trying to do is confuse the issues between what Australia, what some people, are saying about settlement and what we mean by settlement,” Mr Adeang said. “It doesn't help his cause if Kieren is talking about something else. His interpretation about the MOU does not necessarily match our interpretation of the MOU, and I think ours is the right one. If he wants to have a political debate about it, again we have Parliament for that," he said. An interview with Mr Adeang was broadcast on Monday night. Dr Keke reacted sharply to the ban and Mr Adeang's claim the practice had occurred under the previous government.

“David Adeang has repeatedly misled the Nauruan public on many issues and we simply say that the public should hear both sides and all views and let the people decide," Dr Keke said. “A government that relies on media control and censorship and propaganda clearly has no faith in letting the truth speak for itself." Nauru Media acting director Sharain Hiram said the ban was concerning. “This is a democratic country and the media need freedom of speech,” Ms Hiram said. “To me, I have had enough with arguing between government and opposition because it makes us look silly. I don't like the way it puts media in the middle.”

The previous incidence of censorship came after a vicious riot on Nauru on July 19 in which the main Australian-funded refugee camp was almost razed in a fire. Opposition MP Mathew Batsuia was critical during an interview of the decision to suspend the local police commissioner ahead of the riot. But Mr Adeang defended the decision to stop the interview going to air. “We can have those kinds of debates in Parliament. I didn't think it was in our interests, either for himself, myself, the government or the people to have that debate in the local media,” he said. Ms Hiram later said that if the MPs wanted to argue they should go through the parliament.

"In the end it will create a conflict. We go straight and get stories from everyone, unless it is a sensitive thing when we need government to view before airing," she said.