Work starts on new Pacific solution

17 Aug 2012, 4:22 pm   -   Source: AAP
The government pushed its legislation through the House of Representatives, with coalition support, on Wednesday and again relied on coalition support in the Senate on Thursday. (AAP)

The government pushed its legislation through the House of Representatives, with coalition support, on Wednesday and again relied on coalition support in the Senate on Thursday. (AAP)

Soldiers and government officials have begun assessing mothballed offshore asylum seeker facilities, ahead of their reopening.

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Four years after the Rudd government shut them down, work has begun on reopening the Nauru and Manus Island asylum seeker facilities.

But the centres already face pressure, with nine boats carrying 534 people arriving since Monday, when the government announced its decision to restart offshore processing based on the report by former defence chief Angus Houston.

The passengers, 63 of whom reached the Cocos Islands without detection, have been transferred to Christmas Island and Darwin for initial security, health and identity checks.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said anyone arriving by boat without a visa after August 13 ran the risk of transfer to a regional processing country.

Arriving on Manus Island on Friday morning, a scoping group comprising soldiers, government officials and a small media contingent found up to 40 dilapidated buildings overgrown by jungle.

"So far we have assessed the engineering, logistics, medical and communication requirements to have this centre up and running," Squadron Leader Alan Brown said after an initial inspection.

Termites infested many of the buildings and louvres were missing.

But the federal government is confident of getting the facility, as well as that shut down on Nauru in 2008, operating within weeks.

Laws reinstating the offshore processing of asylum seekers cleared parliament late on Thursday.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said it was not yet known how many people the two facilities would take in.

An estimate would be made after the assessment team returned.

The Christmas Island detention centre now has about 1700 occupants but has a capacity of 2000.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he doubted whether the government would be able to stop dangerous boat journeys.

"My fear is that Julia Gillard's heart and the Labor Party's heart just isn't in this, and under this government we'll always have the boats coming," Mr Abbott said.

Chief of mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Australia, Mark Getchell, has given in-principle support from his head office to help run the facilities, as the organisation did in 2001 when the Howard government opened Nauru.

The Malaysian government said it was still willing to work with Australia to revive the asylum-seeker swap agreement between the two countries.

The Houston report said Malaysia should remain a key part of the strategy.

"We believe that the agreement between Malaysia and Australia is the best way to tackle the menace of people traffickers, in a way that protects the interests of Australia, Malaysia and, above all, the immigrants involved," a spokesperson for the Malaysian government told AAP.

Australian Human Rights Commission president Professor Gillian Triggs said she was concerned the new laws had stripped away human rights protections.

"There will be no opportunity for the High Court to review whether regional processing will be conducted in accordance with human rights standards," she said.

The scoping party left Manus Island and was due to arrive on Nauru late on Friday.

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