The New Observer
April 29, 2016
The invader center set up by the Australian government at Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG), is to be closed after that country’s Supreme Court ruled it to be illegal.
The center’s closure will now cause a political standoff between Australia and PNG, because it was set up as part of a successful strategy to halt a seaborne nonwhite invasion.
The PNG government has already demanded that Australia “make alternative arrangements” for the 850 male “asylum seekers and refugees” currently on the island.
However, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton rejected the demand, saying that Australia has paid PNG “a lot of money” to host the center and the invaders are the responsibility of that nation.
“The Memorandum of Understanding is fairly clear, and that’s understood by both sides,” Dutton said.
“And under that arrangement people are assessed [and] if they’re found to be owed protection—that is, if they’re found to be refugees—then they settle in PNG.”
Dutton said while he believed the PNG Supreme Court’s decision was “not binding” on Australia, the Federal Government would still provide assistance to resolve the situation.
The government had paid PNG billions of dollars to house “asylum seekers” and may provide further “financial assistance” to help Manus Island refugees resettle in other countries, he said.
However, the PNG High Commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepani, had earlier said the asylum seekers were Australia’s responsibility. He said the agreement only applied to those refugees who had chosen to live in PNG.
“Those who are found to be legal refugees, we invite them to stay in Papua New Guinea, to be part of our community; but if they refuse, we cannot force them,” he said.
The new PNG Supreme Court decision has ruled that the center violated that nation’s constitution, as it causes invaders to be held “against their will in a place they had never tried to immigrate to in the first place.”
Dutton added that PNG’s decision “does not alter Australia’s border protection policies—they remain unchanged. No one who attempts to travel to Australia illegally by boat will settle in Australia.”
* Between 2010 and 2014, Australia saw a huge influx of invaders, mostly from Afghanistan, Iran, and Bangladesh, reach its shores by sea.
The then government responded by implementing what was called its “Pacific Solution” through which the invaders were picked up at sea by the Australian Navy before they landed and moved to detention facilities.
At the same time, an aggressive propaganda and media campaign was launched warning would-be invaders that if they landed in Australia illegally, they would never be allowed to settle.
Twelve of the detention centers are located in Australia, while two more were located on the small island of Nauru, and on Manus Island, a sparsely inhabited strip of land which is part of PNG.
The strategy worked, and the invasion dried up completely once the nonwhites got the message that illegally entering Australia was not going to work very well.
The invaders held at Manus Island have in the past resorted to violence and riots, and several police interventions have been necessary.
In one incident, PNG police and local residents entered the facility and attacked detainees, injuring 77 and killing one Iranian, after a series of criminal attacks by the invaders upon locals.