PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to seek to share refugees with Pacific neighbours

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea has called for other countries in the Asia region to also shoulder the responsibility of resettling asylum seekers, as refugees from Manus Island are moved into the local Manus community.

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said the few refugees who have been resettled in PNG have been “well accepted” into the community.

“Despite some of the negative reporting, the Manus Island detention centre is going very well,” he told Fairfax Media. “The processing of the genuine asylum seekers is going quite well.”

Until this year, asylum seekers being held in the Manus Island detention centre were waiting longer than a year to have their asylum status processed. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill blamed the delay on the asylum seekers, saying they did not offer enough proof to verify whether they were genuinely seeking asylum.

“The asylum seekers did not provide enough information to our officers to say whether they were genuine refugees or not and as a result of that, trying to get information verified through the other governments and the country of origin and our dealings with the Australian government took a bit of time,” he said.

“But we are very much on track now.” Despite the resettlement program’s progress, Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill appealed to other Pacific islands to help resettle refugees in September.

“We would like to resettle as many as possible and we are hoping that some of the other countries in the region can also participate in the resettlement exercise as well,” he said. “I will be directly discussing this issue with the other Pacific island countries in September for the Pacific Island Forum.”

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said PNG had not been in contact with Cambodia, which has yet to resettle any refugees despite agreeing to do so.

When asked which country was ultimately responsible for the running of the centre, Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said it was an issue that both the Australian government and his government have to manage. “We work closely together; we have the final say on how the centre is facilitated and run but with close consultation with the Australian government. This is an issue that needs both governments to manage.”