Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is studying a UN report critical of Australia's handling of asylum-seekers in Papua New Guinea and said he would not shirk his responsibilities to refugees.
The UN refugee agency was last week deeply critical of Canberra's detention of asylum-seekers at a temporary centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, saying it failed to meet international protection standards.
Speaking in Port Moresby with PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Rudd said the influx of boatpeople was a problem he would not "shy away from".
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"I thank the UNHCR for its work in this report and we're studying its recommendations. We will work through those recommendations with our friends here in PNG," Rudd said.
The UNHCR has criticised the lack of freedom of movement afforded asylum-seekers on Manus, saying their detention was open-ended, mandatory and apparently arbitrary.
"The combination of a tough physical environment, restricted legal regime, and slow processing mean that existing arrangements still do not meet the required international protection standards," the UNHCR's Adrian Edwards said last week.
Rudd stressed the importance of PNG, a poverty-stricken Pacific island state, as part of an effective regional response to people-smuggling and said the construction of a permanent facility on Manus was underway.
"This is a challenge that as Australian prime minister I will not shy away from," he said.
"As I've said before, where the circumstances change, Australia will adjust, continue to adjust and, where necessary, change our policy."
O'Neill agreed with Rudd in welcoming the report, and said he would also study its details.
"We appreciate the UNHCR report and the recommendations, and we hope that they understand the challenges that we have," he said.
Rudd said Australia and PNG were working together against "our common enemy -- people smugglers".
"PNG and Australia are broad-shouldered enough to receive reports from the international community, including the UNHCR, and to study carefully recommendations," he said.
"As I said, as this project is rolled out, we will be mindful of those recommendations."
Australia has attempted to stem the influx of boats loaded with asylum-seekers by transferring the would-be refugees to processing stations in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific nation of Nauru.
The UNHCR has repeatedly slammed the policy, saying that while Australia has a generous official refugee programme, there has been a widening range of deterrent measures proposed or in place to try to stop boatpeople.
Newly-reinstated Rudd has backed talks with countries of origin to try to stop boats making the perilous journey to Australia during which hundreds of people have died in recent years.
