A$70m to be paid by Australia to Manus Island detainees
A$70m to be paid by Australia to Manus Island detainees: Private contractors along with the Australian government have offered compensation which is totalling A$70m (£41m; $53m) to refugees detained in Papua New Guinea.
It was alleged by the 1,905 claimants that they had suffered harm while being held on PNG’s Manus Island between 2012 and 2016.
On the other hand the government said it “strongly denied” the allegations but that settling was a “prudent” decision.
The Australian government turns away any refugees and asylum seekers who are arriving by boat and moves them to PNG and Nauru islands.
The government claims that the move deters migrants from attempting the life-threatening voyage to its shores in trafficking boats. However the government’s policy has been heavily criticised both at home and internationally, criticisers include the United Nations.
The Manus case was due to be heard in the Victoria Supreme Court on Wednesday.
However short before the trial started the government lawyers said that they offered a settlement of A$70m to the effected. Furthermore they had also offered to cover costs which is estimated to be more than A$20m. The court is yet to approve the details of the settlement and the financial package.
Despite the huge cost, along with the critical headlines it has generated, the government of Australia is unlikely to regret its policy of sending asylum seekers offshore.
Telling the refugees that there case is in process and sending them offshore seems to have been a powerful deterrent. Yesterday the prime minister of Australia had boasted that more than 1,000 days have had passed without a successful people-smuggling expedition to Australia. The more pressing problem however is what to do with the hundreds of refugees who remain on Manus Island and Nauru.
Conversely the US had agreed to honour a deal to consider them for resettlement, it seems unlikely that all would pass the “extreme vetting” procedure.
The Manus Island centre which is due to be closed in October, time is running out for a long term solution. Andrew Baker the main lawyer for the claimants has said that the settlement would help them to “put this dark chapter of their lives behind them.“
However Australia’s immigration minister Peter Dutton has said that the government of Australia “strongly refutes and denies the claims made in these proceedings.“
Mr Dutton in a statement said, that had the case gone to trial it would have cost “tens of millions of dollars in legal fees alone, with an unknown outcome“, and the government bearing this in mind had decided a settlement was a “prudent outcome for Australian taxpayers.“
As of last year, residents were allowed to freely come and go from the facility but the debate over their resettlement is ongoing.
Australia has insisted that no-one held on Manus or Nauru will ever be re-settled in Australia.
For More News:
Visit HumSub TV