O'NEIL MAKES FLYING VISIT TO DETENTION CENTRE

Papua New Guinea's prime minister has made the briefest of visits to the Australian Government's processing centre for asylum seekers on Manus Island.

Peter O'Neill flew to the island as part of a plan to visit every one of the country's 22 provinces.

While there he drove out to the Lombrum naval base where the processing centre is located and drove past it without getting out of his car.

Asylum seekers inside the centre waved as he passed by.

Later at a community gathering in the capital Lorengau, Mr O'Neill told a crowd of several thousand he wanted the processing centre to be a permanent facility.

He thanked the local landowners for hosting it and welcomes the Australian Government's commitment to fix the island's hospital, roads and schools.

However, PNG's opposition to the processing centre on Manus Island.

A summons filed last week with the nation's National Court seeks a declaration that the agreement between the PNG and Australian governments to establish the centre is unconstitutional because it authorises the deprivation of the asylum seekers' personal liberty.