PNG asylum case funding honours contract signed by Labor, says Scott Morrison By Sarah Whyte Immigration correspondent Source: Sydney Morning Herald The Australian Immigration Minister has defended the use of taxpayer money to fund Papua New Guineas legal costs to shut down human rights inquiries and a constitutional challenge to the controversial offshore detention centres. The funding of legal costs in Papua New Guinea or Nauru is the result of an obligation created in the agreements met and arranged by the previous government under the offshore processing and regional processing arrangements that they signed up to, Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney. The previous government signed up to meet all these costs and we are honouring the commitment entered into by the previous government. Advertisement The funding, costing between $350,000 and $370,000, has been used to defend a constitutional challenge initiated by PNGs opposition leader Belden Namah, it was revealed in a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday. Were meeting our obligations as entered into by the previous Government and were honouring those obligations, Mr Morrison said. Immigration secretary Martin Bowles also said on Tuesday that the government was likely to be funding Naurus legal costs. We might have spent a little bit on Nauru, he told a Senate estimates hearing. Human rights groups are appalled, saying the Australian government is blatantly ignoring the rights of asylum seekers in its dogged pursuit to stop the boats. The fact our government pays another countrys legal bills while at the same time refusing to fund legal assistance for asylum seekers here in Australia shows just how determined this government is to deny asylum seekers a fair go, said Daniel Webb, Human Rights Law Centre director of legal advocacy. But despite ongoing criticism of the governments tough border policies, Labor has thrown its support behind offshore processing. Immigration spokesman Richard Marles told the National Press Club on Tuesday that he would continue the running of both the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres if he was in government. It is the single most effective deterrent in seeing people not risk their lives at sea and we cant from a position of compassion abide a situation where we are seeing that tragic loss of life at sea on our borders, he said
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 02:55:17 +0000
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