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Australia expands PNG refugee deal to Nauru
Agence France Presse - August 3, 2013
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Nauruan President Baron Waqa signed a deal allowing unauthorized asylum boat arrivals to be sent to the remote island for processing and ultimate resettlement under a tough new policy effectively closing Australia to asylum seekers traveling by boat.
The plan, unveiled two weeks ago, initially involved impoverished Papua New Guinea, but Rudd said Nauru had also decided to join the initiative.
Family groups and unaccompanied minors would be the focus of transfers to Nauru, Rudd said of the deal, which will see the tiny Pacific atoll get a significant Australian aid boost including the rebuilding of its prison.
"Nauru is a nation with a small population. We would only expect modest numbers to ever be involved in settlement," said Rudd. "It is clear that the only way to deal with the challenge of people smuggling is through a comprehensive regional approach."
The so-called PNG solution, which Canberra hopes will stem a record influx of boat arrivals that has topped 15,000 so far this year, has been criticized by refugee advocates and human rights groups.
Rudd said the addition of Nauru reflected the "full strength of the resolve" of his ruling Labor party on the sensitive political issue, with speculation mounting that he is poised to announce a September 7 national election and swing into campaign mode.
Rudd denied he had settled on a timetable for the national polls, due before November 30, saying he'd made "no determination whatsoever in terms of a date".
He put a potential dampener on the September 7 speculation, confirming for the first time that he was planning to attend the September 5-6 G20 leaders' summit in Russia, where Australia will assume the chair for 2014.
"It's my intention to be in St. Petersburg, but I'm very mindful also of the other challenges which lie ahead of us as well," Rudd said. "I place enormous priority to the G20 and its agenda. At the same time I will always balance that against other considerations before us as well."
Riots erupted at the existing refugee processing centre on Nauru – a sparse 21-square kilometer island with a population of just 9,400 – following Rudd's announcement last month that Australia would stop accepting any refugees arriving by boat without a visa.
Most of the major buildings were razed and more than 100 detainees have been charged over the incident, which has resulted in the erection of a tent city on the other side of the island as temporary refugee housing.
Waqa said Nauru was committed to "stand by" Australia in tackling what he described as a regional problem. "I think the problem of asylum-seekers is not just Australia's, (it's been) discussed in so many forums that it is a regional solution for us as well," he said.
Rudd said an upcoming summit of people-smuggling transit and destination countries in Indonesia on August 20 would "provide an opportunity to develop further regional arrangements".
Immigration Minister Tony Burke told reporters other countries in the region had expressed interest in Australia's plans.
"We're not going out there selling the idea or trying to talk people into agreeing, but there are a number of countries within the region that have signed the [UN refugee] convention and who have a genuine commitment to wanting to take a regional approach, and if we're able to reach agreement with them then we will," he said.
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