Nauru, Manus timetables to become clearer

19 Aug 2012, 2:38 pm   -   Source: AAP

The government teams sent to survey the detention facilities in Nauru and PNG are due back on Monday.

The federal government will be able to give a firmer timetable for restarting offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island after its advance teams return home on Monday.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says the reconnaissance teams are due back by Monday evening.

"So we'll be in a position very early this week to consider their reports and then start establishing temporary and subsequently permanent facilities," he told Network Ten on Sunday.

The teams have found the facilities on both islands in disrepair, and getting them fully operational is likely to be costly and take quite some time.

Mr Smith also dismissed suggestions the government should have sent special forces soldiers in to deal with 67 asylum seekers who intimidated their rescuers on the merchant vessel MV Parsifal into taking them to Christmas Island last week.

He said the vessel was thousands of nautical miles from the SAS' home base in Perth and the Parsifal's captain had been forced to make a decision very quickly.

"So the notion of getting the SAS up there frankly was fanciful and just again reflects on the judgment and capacity of Tony Abbott and his team to be making sensible judgments about our national security interests," he said.

But former Howard government immigration minister Philip Ruddock said the government should have been tougher.

"The more we acquiesce in relation to these matters, the more the people involved believe that they can stand over us to achieve their outcomes," he told Network Ten.

Mr Ruddock says he believes the government must also adopt the other coalition policies to deter boat arrivals - temporary protection visas and turning boats back to Indonesia.

"They all need to be brought to bear. In my view this was never a menu that you could pick and choose from," he said.

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