14th Nov 2017, 3:45 PM – Senate Motions - Immigration Detention - New Zealand resettlement offer

The majority voted in favour of a motion calling on the Government to accept New Zealand's offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru detention centres.

Motions like these represent the will of the Senate but do not have legal force. This means that they can be influential but don't actually force the Government to do anything.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges the failure of the Abbott-Turnbull Government to manage offshore processing arrangements and secure other third country resettlement arrangements for eligible refugees;

(b) notes the United States of America refugee resettlement agreement will resettle up to 1 250 eligible refugees from Manus Island and Nauru but that some eligible refugees will miss out on the opportunity to resettle in America;

(c) acknowledges former Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced an agreement with Prime Minister John Key on 9 February 2013 at the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders' meeting that:

(i) New Zealand would resettle 150 refugees annually from Australia, including refugees from Manus Island and Nauru, and

(ii) the first refugees would be resettled in 2014;

(d) notes that, if former Prime Minister Tony Abbott had not withdrawn from the agreement, as many as 600 refugees would have been resettled in New Zealand by now;

(e) acknowledges the inquiry and report of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, Serious allegations of abuse, self-harm and neglect of asylum seekers in relation to the Nauru Regional Processing Centre, and any like allegations in relation to the Manus, and in particular, recommendation 7: "The committee recommends that the Australian Government give serious consideration to all resettlement offers it receives, including the Government of New Zealand's offer to resettle refugees from Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Nauru. Further, if particular resettlement offers are considered unsuitable, the Government should clearly outline the reasons";

(f) notes New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has renewed the offer to Australia to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru;

(g) notes Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has failed to explain why he will not accept New Zealand's offer to resettle eligible refugees from Manus and Nauru; and

(h) calls on the Turnbull Government to immediately accept New Zealand's offer to resettle refugees from Manus Island and Nauru and begin negotiating appropriate conditions, similar to the United States refugee resettlement agreement, to ensure people smugglers do not exploit vulnerable people.