Papua New Guinea has granted refugee status to another 30 Manus Island detainees as efforts continue to return most asylum seekers held there to their home countries.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton visited Port Moresby on Monday for talks with his PNG counterpart Rimbink Pato, his first trip to the nation since taking on the job.
Mr Pato said a further 30 asylum seekers have been granted refugee status, while another 80 who've had their applications rejected intend to appeal.
"All together there'll be 80 asylum seekers who are on the way to being resettled in PNG once a policy on the resettlement has been finalised," he told the ABC.
Mr Pato made it clear Australia would be expected to shoulder costs associated with those resettlements.
Australia has promised support, but Mr Dutton said it was a domestic matter for PNG.
Late last month, PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said most asylum seekers held on Manus Island would be sent back to their home countries because they were economic migrants, not genuine political refugees.
Tensions flared on Manus Island in early January after up to 600 asylum seekers on Manus started a hunger strike, while at least one man swallowed razor blades.
Refugee advocates say 58 asylum seekers were arrested by PNG police during the tensions.
Mr Pato on Monday said asylum seekers arrested during the unrest, who are still being held in the island's jail and police cells, had not been charged.
He did not say how long they would be held for, saying: "The powers of the police are wide, and they can detain people in certain circumstances."
He also warned protest leaders their actions could jeopardise their asylum applications.
"Should an asylum seeker misbehave, then he will disenfranchise himself. In other words he will not be resettled," he told the ABC.
