Australia and Papua New Guinea to Establish New Funding Agreement for Managing Transferred Asylum Seekers
Exclusive: New Funding Agreement for Asylum Seekers Between Australia and Papua New Guinea
Australia is set to strike a new funding deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support asylum seekers, following PNG’s threat to send them back to Australia if a fresh agreement was not signed. Government regulations reveal that Australia will provide “further capability support and funding” to PNG, though the specific dollar amount remains confidential.
The previous agreement, established in December 2021 by the Morrison government, allowed around 75 refugees and asylum seekers to stay in Port Moresby after the closure of the Manus Island regional processing centre. However, when the allocated funding was depleted within the first six months, PNG’s chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, accused Australia of abandonment and threatened to “shut the program and send the refugees back to Australia.” The Australian government has previously claimed no responsibility for the welfare of these asylum seekers and refugees, who were initially sent to PNG in 2013 and 2014.
Newly tabled government regulations state that Australia will now offer additional support and funding to assist PNG in independently managing and resolving the residual caseload of people transferred to PNG before January 1, 2022. An explanatory statement noted that PNG is creating a sustainable settlement framework to help these individuals integrate into the PNG community, either permanently or temporarily, pending other durable migration outcomes.
The exact amount of funding for both the original and new deals remains confidential to prevent potential “significant damage” to the Australia-PNG bilateral relationship. The agreements stipulate that PNG must not return refugees and asylum seekers to dangerous situations. Funding for these arrangements comes from the home affairs department’s budget for offshore management of unauthorized maritime arrivals, which totaled $477.7 million for 2023-24.
The new support for PNG will be provided under a variation to the independent management arrangement. The statement mentioned that extensive consultations have already taken place between Australia and PNG, with further discussions expected before the new deal is finalized by a home affairs official.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil emphasized that the details of the support provided to PNG are confidential, as they were under the previous government, which ended the regional processing arrangement. O’Neil visited PNG in mid-June as part of a delegation of ministers meeting their counterparts.
The beneficiaries of this deal were formerly detained at Australia’s detention centre on Manus Island, which was ruled unlawful by PNG’s supreme court in 2016. Currently, around 70 refugees and asylum seekers remain in PNG, facing potential eviction due to unpaid accommodation bills since 2022. Port Moresby’s Pacific International Hospital claims it is owed nearly $40 million, while other service providers, including security firms and motels across the capital, are owed between $6 million and $8 million each.
During Senate estimates in May, home affairs officials described the original deal as a “finite, confidential agreement with PNG to help support their transition to full, independent management.” The home affairs departmental secretary, Stephanie Foster, confirmed ongoing discussions with PNG to address their challenges and needs but denied any formal claims from PNG against Australia.
Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge criticized the secrecy of the deal, describing it as “staggering,” with Labor providing an undisclosed amount of public funds to PNG to detain refugees who sought asylum in Australia over a decade ago. Shoebridge asserted that the funding was a response to PNG’s justified view of the arrangement as condescending and unfair, highlighting the life-or-death situation faced by the refugees.
