There is now a humanitarian disaster on Australia’s doorstep. And it’s our responsibility. The refugees on Manus Island must be resettled promptly. After four years, all options other than Australia have come to nothing or have been rejected by our government. There is now no option but to resettle them in Australia.
There are 600 persons, most of them proven refugees, who are at risk on Manus Island. They were taken there under an agreement between the governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea. They have been there more than four years.
The original agreement provides: “Australia and Papua New Guinea take seriously their obligations for the welfare and safety of any persons transferred to Papua New Guinea under this arrangement.”
“Australia will provide support, through a service provider, to any refugees who are resettled in Papua New Guinea or in any other participating regional, including Pacific Island, state”; and “Australia will bear the full cost of implementing the arrangement in Papua New Guinea for the life of the arrangement. If this requires additional development of infrastructure or services, it is envisaged that there will be a broader benefit for communities in which transferees are initially placed.”
The agreement has failed. It’s never worked. It’s now completely unworkable. It is now unprincipled. It has not provided protection, security or safety for these 600 persons. It has not conferred broader benefits on the affected communities. It has placed the lives of refugees at risk, and it has disturbed affected communities.
The agreement between the governments was to be reviewed every 12 months. The reviews have come to nothing. The two governments established a joint committee with responsibility for the oversight of all practical arrangements. The committee has failed to clarify responsibilities between the two governments.
The administration of this agreement has upset the local population of Manus Island. It has caused untold political problems for the PNG government. And it has undermined the rule of law in PNG. Our government has failed to act in a timely way. There is now no realistic prospect of peaceful resettlement of refugees in other parts of PNG. There is no way that permanent resettlement can be offered to these refugees in Nauru.
It is not an acceptable option to leave the refugees on Manus Island any longer, when there has not been an ordered transition to other secure accommodation or to new competent service providers. The Liberal/National Party government should accept that it has failed to make this agreement work, and the time is up.
The Labor opposition should accept that former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s 2013 agreement has failed to deliver, and the time has passed for it ever to deliver. The Turnbull government and the Shorten opposition should abandon the agreement now because none of its objectives can be achieved. If the Turnbull government refuses to bring the refugees to Australia, the Shorten opposition should commit to do so if elected to government. The Senate should demand that the government act now.
After four years, our government has exhausted all offshore possibilities. The refugees and failed asylum seekers should be brought to Australia immediately. Those who are not refugees can be held here in secure detention until they are returned home. Those refugees accepted for entry to the US can migrate when their vetting processes are complete. The other refugees can get on with their lives here in safety.
Meanwhile the boats will stay stopped just as they have for the past four years because of the diplomatic and military arrangements in place with Indonesia. Deliberate, ongoing, unresolved displacement of proven refugees in troubled circumstances can be no part of a civilised border protection policy.
Four years and three months is enough. Malcolm Turnbull needs to act now. If he doesn’t, Bill Shorten needs to commit to a workable and principled solution.
Even if it enjoys bipartisan support, an unworkable, unprincipled agreement is still just that. The cost to all parties is too high. Time has run out.
Frank Brennan is chief executive of Catholic Social Services Australia
Tim Costello is chief advocate of World Vision Australia
Robert Manne is an emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University
John Menadue is a former secretary of the Department of Immigration
John Menadue is the publisher, founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Comments
5 responses to “The Manus Island agreement is a failure; Turnbull and Shorten need to accept that: Robert Manne, Tim Costello, Frank Brennan and John Menadue.”
I wish to express my deepest concern regarding the situation of Asylum Seekers currently held in off-shore detention. Many of these people, though having been determined to be Refugees, are now in their 5th year of incarceration. We have procrastinated far to long to bring about a truly humanitarian and compassionate solution – I have felt ashamed to be an Australian when I see the way that our government has addressed this issue – a way that has trampled on the very Australian values expressed in our National Anthem!
How can we wash our hands of the lives of these 600 men on Manus Island ? Hardly an appropriate response from one of the wealthiest countries in the world which continues to sing with pride “Advance Australia Fair!”
This year we celebrated the jubilee of our recognition of our first peoples as being members of the Australian Community. In most Religious Traditions, there is a practice of forgiveness and reconciliation at the time of a Jubilee Year – could we not celebrate this Jubilee by declaring an Amnesty for the people on Manus in particular and for those on Nauru?
Bring them to Australia for processing and grant them the asylum that they have sought for so long?
It is now a matter of extreme urgency!
As a nation we have too long born so much international condemnation, since we adopted this shameful process of mandatory off-shore detention. The boats have been stopped!
Let’s now move on in ways which will proudly proclaim that we are truly “Advancing Australia Fair”!
Words fail me. What an utter disgrace and a shambles from a country who has prided itself on its acceptance of refugees.
Australia has highly sophisticated submarine, patrol boat and air-force fleets. These have the capacity to recognise any surface, aeronautical or submarine activity. Surely that would be an adequate defence against people smugglers, and a major saving on the costs associated with Manus island and Nauru.
Once that protective network is in operation, can’t we feel safe enough to accept the certified refugees left languishing in those detention centres? Come on Aussie , come on.
Agree with Tony Kevin and the authors. What a heartless and immoral country we must now be and appear to be when we cannot get our leaders to get beyond their adversarial egos, acknowledge the pain of the 600 and bring them to Australia. They have suffered enough. But so too have their jailers and current administrators damaged themselves. And as for those collusive servants now claiming the Nuremberg defense, they are beyond contempt. There may be a chance for statesmanship with government numbers the way they are so that Labor could admit it was wrong and lead the way to redress.
Of course I support this. It is the only decent option, for reasons set out by the authors. Labor needs to move first as Turnbull won’t. Nick McKim of the Greens and the NZ PM have opened the door. If NZ takes 150 that is a facesaver for Turnbull and Shorten. Time to move, Bill Shorten.