Pato: We will choose which refugees to resettle in PNG

PNG Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato says he will choose which refugees resettle in the country, according to an Australian media report.
Pato’s statement contradicted Australia’s assertion that all genuine refugees detained on Manus Island would be resettled within PNG.
He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he could take advice from an expert panel and choose refugees based on their professional skills. “The National Government will determine who will or will not be settled in PNG as refugees,” he said.
Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said last Friday “everyone who’s found to be a refugee at Manus Island, they will be resettled in Papua New Guinea”.
But Pato said the final say would be made by the PNG Cabinet.
“I have said there’s an expert panel which is going to formulate the policy framework within which we will act and depending on what the recommendations are – if they for example impose a quota, if they for example require a particular type of skilled persons for resettlement – those are matters for the cabinet,” he said.
Pato said he expected refugees to begin resettling in PNG in July with immigration officials processing about 10 asylum claims each week.
“Those who have been determined as negative and/or positive are entitled to seek a review of those determinations through a review panel and that process of review is presently underway,” he said.
“If a negative assessment is upheld by the review panel, the asylum seeker will be repatriated to his home country at Australia’s expense”.
Pato said PNG expected Australia to foot the bill for resettlement costs for as long as the Manus Island processing arrangements are in place.