THE Turnbull government will make an announcement on an asylum seeker deal with the US tomorrow, according to Sky News.
Canberra and Washington are expected to announce an immigration arrangement that could clear up to 1800 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.
It comes after the PM announced in September Australia will take refugees from Central America as part of its annual intake. Mr Turnbull made the announcement during an address at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, convened by US President Barack Obama, aimed at finding a better international solution to deal with 65.3 million people displaced around the globe
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten supported the idea “in principle” while at a Remembrance Day farewell in Darwin on Friday evening for 400 Anzac Diggers about to deploy to the Middle East.
“We obviously need to see the detail but I think that our strong bipartisan commitment to stop the scourge of people smuggling does not mean that people need to be kept in indefinite detention,” Mr Shorten said.
“We need strong borders but fair treatment as well.”
BREAKING: The government will make an announcement on an asylum seeker deal with the US tomorrow https://t.co/zYev3eIFPc
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 12, 2016
Defence Minister Marise Payne, who arrived in a tank to send off the soldiers preparing for a six-month deployment in Iraq, was tight-lipped about any refugee negotiations.
“We already have a number of third country resettlement options available for those who are currently on Manus and Nauru. They include Cambodia, they include Papua New Guinea,” she said.
“I’m not going to comment any further.”
Earlier in the day on ABC radio, she deferred to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton whose office also declined to comment.
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese welcomed any prospective agreement.
“These are people who are refugees, who have been found to be refugees, who, if they are settled in a country like the United States, that will be a good thing,” he said.
