Turnbull: Manus detainees 'will not come to Australia'
Malcolm Turnbull speaks to 3AW's Neil Mitchell about the fate of detainees on Manus Island after PNG's closure of a detention centre.
PT2M27S 620 349A legal challenge seeking the transfer of asylum seekers from Manus Island to Australia will be heard in the third week of the election campaign.
A hearing for the High Court challenge has been set for May 23 after last week's ruling in the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court that the Manus Island detention centre breached the country's constitution.
In documents lodged on Wednesday, 757 asylum seekers are also seeking an order from the court preventing the Australian government from moving them to Nauru.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reiterated that the asylum seekers will not be resettled in Australia. Photo: Andrew Meares
The asylum seekers allege that both the Australian and PNG governments have committed gross human rights breaches, including forcible detention, torture and degrading treatment, and false imprisonment. The claim will be vigorously defended by the Turnbull government, which declined to comment.
A solicitor for the group, Matthew Byrnes, has also called for a royal commission on the operation of the Manus Island centre.
"In addition to the orders being sought from the High Court in these applications, we are of the view that there is an urgent need for an inquiry or a royal commission in relation to the arrangements," Mr Byrnes told the ABC.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said no Australian wanted to see asylum seekers self-harming. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
The move came as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull repeated that the asylum seekers would not be resettled in Australia because this would be a green light to people smugglers. But Mr Turnbull told ABC radio: "The misery that many of those people are in, the mental anguish that many of them are in, is something that we sympathise with. We grieve for them."
In Parliament, Greens MP Adam Bandt asked if the government would consider changing the policy after two refugees set fire to themselves on Nauru. In reply, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said no Australian wanted to see asylum seekers self-harming. "Equally, though, Australians don't want to see people drowning at sea," he said.
