United States close to resettling hundreds of refugees from Australia
The United States and Australia are close to announcing a deal in which the US would resettle hundreds of asylum seekers banished by Australia to Pacific island camps, a newspaper reported on Friday.
There certainly is time – two and a half months is plenty of time – and if that’s the case, it will be a great achievement for the Turnbull government
The US had agreed to accept up to 1,800 refugees held for up to three years at Australia’s expense in camps on the impoverished island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, The Australian newspaper reported.
The agreement could empty the camps that have been condemned by human rights groups as a cruel abrogation of Australia’s responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention.
Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on negotiations with the United States.
Rebecca Gardner, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Australia, would not comment on the newspaper report, saying the State Department did not “comment on or discuss diplomatic negotiations.”
Senior government minister Christopher Pyne praised the prospect of such an agreement being finalised before the Obama administration ends.
“There certainly is time – two and a half months is plenty of time – and if that’s the case, it will be a great achievement for the Turnbull government,” Pyne told Nine Network television.