Aussie minister admits to strain on system

SYDNEY: Australia said yesterday it had begun sending boatpeople to Papua New Guinea as it admitted that its offshore refugee processing system is straining to cope with the number of recent arrivals.
Canberra announced in August that refugees arriving by boat would be sent to two Pacific Islands. Almost 400 were now held on tiny Nauru. Amnesty International had criticised the conditions there as “completely unacceptable”.
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the first transfer of 19 asylum-seekers to Manus left Christmas Island on Tuesday, comprising four children and 15 adults belonging to seven families from Sri Lanka and Iran.
He said given the thousands of boatpeople who had arrived since the government announced its new policy, it would not be possible to transfer them all to Nauru or Manus in the immediate future.
“Some people will be processed in Australia and processed in the community.
“But they will remain on bridging visas, even after they are
regarded, through the process, as refugees,” Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
“They will still be subject to potential future transfer to Nauru or Manus at a date when increased capacity becomes available.”
The government had struggled to deal with an influx of asylum seekers arriving by sea, with more than 7,000 boatpeople landing since the tough new policy was announced.
A record of more than 15,500 had arrived this year.
Bowen said transfers to Nauru and Manus Island, which would ultimately have a combined capacity of about 2,100, would continue. – AFP