A protester holds a placard during a rally in support of refugees in central Sydney, Australia, October 19, 2015.
A protester holds a placard during a rally in support of refugees in central Sydney, Australia, October 19, 2015. Reuters/David Gray

About 850 asylum seekers will be left without a place to stay after Australia says the Manus Island regional detention centre will be closed. The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea has ruled that the centre was illegal, therefore ordering the PNG and Australian governments to shut down the centre.

What would happen to the hundreds of men at the centre remains uncertain as Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton made it clear they would not be coming to Australia. He said the country is in talks with PNG about the options available for the asylum seekers.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill invited legitimate refugees to live in the country if they wanted to. However, not all those who are in the detention centre are refugees. The men could either be sent home or resettled in other countries.

“The discussions have been going on for a period of time. Already the PNG government has put in place some measures which would placate the concerns of the judges in the Supreme Court case,” Dutton told Sky News, admitting that they knew about the impending closure of the centre since late last year.

The Australian government was ill-prepared for the decision even though Dutton admitted that they knew what was coming months prior. This revelation led him to a testy exchange with “Today” co-presenter Karl Stefanovic. The news anchor wanted to know why the government had no immediate solution for the men left on the island if the Turnbull administration had been planning for the decision for months.

“It doesn’t say much about your planning. It doesn’t say much about his planning,” Stefanovic told Dutton. “You say you’ve known for months this ruling was coming and yesterday, [Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull] said we have no road map. How long does it take the prime minister to come up with a road map?”
Dutton appeared to struggle with the answer, saying the discussions with the PNG government have been ongoing for time now.

Meanwhile, PNG High Commissioner to Australia Charles Lepani said talks about the asylum seekers’ future will begin next week. Nevertheless, the ultimate decision about what to do lies with Australia.

“It’s not for us to decide or urge Australia to take them on,” he told the ABC.

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