Like pregnant asylum seekers in Australia who will still be sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea for processing despite the risk of exposure to malaria, gay asylum seekers would similarly not be spared from being resettled in the place now notoriously referred to as Rape Island.

Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who was in Sydney to announce funding by the federal government for the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre, said no group of asylum seekers would be exempt from the new government asylum policy.

The policy that states anyone who arrives in Australia by boat without a visa will be shipped to Papua will not even spare children below 7 who are not physically ready to receive anti-malaria medication.

In the case of gays, there are two risks.

The first is a jail sentence of up to 14 years for being gay, which is illegal in the backward Pacific isle where they kill old women on suspicion of practicing witchcraft and sorcery. The other risk is being raped in jail, which is a common event in different jails around the world and even in the offshore processing centre.

However, Mr Dreyfus, quoting Immigration Minister Tony Burke, assured media that the asylum seekers won't be transferred yet to Rape Island until there is proper accommodation and appropriate circumstances for all who would be sent to Manus.

He added that Australia would not place pressure on Papua to change its laws on homosexuals because of the twin risks that gay asylum seekers would face.

"We don't think that's necessary in order for Australia to comply with our international legal obligations and the obligations that we have under the Migration Act," he added.

Despite a growing international pressure for nations to recognise gay rights, Papua refuses and told the UN in 2011 that it has no plans to decriminalise homosexuality.

No less than two international religious icons had expressed more support for gay rights. The first is Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa who said he would not worship a homophobic God and would rather go to hell than do so. The second is no less than Pope Francis who said he would not condemn gay Catholic priests who are sincerely seeking God.

This, even as more nations and states legalise same-sex marriages.

As of Wednesday, about 1,500 asylum seekers who came aboard 18 boats would be the first to be sent to Manus Island, said Home Affairs Minister Jason Claire. While the Immigration Ministry said the asylum seekers won't be transferred yet to Rape Island, Mr Clare said the first batch was initially slated to arrive in Manus of Wednesday, but the government postponed the move because of bad weather.

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