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JOHN VEAGE
Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister, and David Coleman, Minister of Immigration. The country is taking "quietly" all the children from the island and Australia to Christmas here, but the children still have an uncertain future.
The Australian government has rejected Morrison's new offer to resettle refugees in New Zealand, but continues to transfer children from Nauru to Australia. Two other families left on Friday.
There are only 35 refugee children in Nauru, and more are expected to leave in the coming days. Fifty minors have arrived in Australia since October 15 – partly as a result of orders from the Australian Federal Court – and the government has expressed a wish to "peacefully" bring all the children off the island before Christmas.
But refugee advocates say the government has undermined this intent by filing a lawsuit challenging the Federal Court's right to order medical transfers from Nauru to Australia – which was rejected on Friday. by the judges.
STEFAN POSTLES / GETTY IMAGES
Peter Dutton, Australian Minister of the Interior, said the timing was not conducive to sending refugees to New Zealand.
Children and their families who have been taken to Australia are also facing an uncertain future, Interior Minister Peter Dutton, insisting that they will never settle there permed.
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On Friday night, Immigration Minister David Coleman rejected the proposal by Defense Senator Tim Storer to immediately bring 150 refugees to Australia before relocating to New Zealand.
In return, Senator Storer stated that he would support a controversial bill to ban for life any refugee sent to Manus Island or Nauru after having already received a valid Australian visa.
A spokeswoman for Coleman said the Australian government's position remained clear and that it would not be doing "horse trading" with the bill.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also criticized the New Zealand option, saying he preferred to take families to Australia "quietly" and without "going to the act".
Even though Australia accepted the Kiwi's offer to resettle 150 refugees a year, hundreds of adult refugees would remain homeless.
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent – a long-time advocate for refugee rights who worked behind the scenes with Morrison on the issue – said he was confident of finding a lasting solution.
"We are all working towards the best result," he said. "I am convinced that we are making progress."
But refugee advocates say the government's pledge never to resettle refugees in Australia means that even families who are transferred here for medical purposes remain in limbo.
On Friday, the Morrison government failed to challenge the Federal Court's power to order the evacuation of extremely sick refugee children from Nauru, including an 11-year-old Iranian who had not eaten for more than a fortnight .
Interior Ministry lawyers said last month that the court did not have the power to hear such cases because the girl was a "transient person".
But the Federal Court ruled that it was inappropriate to use the case of the 11-year-old Iranian girl to verify her competence, in part because she had already been taken from Nauru in Australia.
The Human Rights Law Center said the government could once again challenge the authority of the court the next time lawyers attempt to evacuate a patient to Australia.
"For now, desperately unworthy individuals who are abused by the government in Manus or Nauru can still bring their case to the Federal Court," said Daniel Webb, of the advocacy group.
In addition, lawyers confirmed that a number of refugees in Nauru had rejected offers of resettlement submitted by the United States under the agreement made under former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull .
Dutton said this week that 71 refugees had rejected an American offer or had withdrawn from the process. Jana Favero, director of advocacy activities at the Asylum Seekers Resource Center, said she doubted the figure was so high, but confirmed that a "handful" of refugees in Nauru they were removed from the US agreement.
They were mainly people who had family in Australia and feared to be permanently separated from them, she said.
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