The Immigration Department has appeared before a parliamentary estimates committee in front of senators.
It was a chance to ask questions of the Department bureaucrats, not just politicians.
There was also a legal responsibility to answer questions.
The department's head, Michael Pezzullo, revealed none of the approximately 12-hundred refugees on Manus Island and Nauru are being screened by officials from the United States.
"It's ready to commence and Australia's assisting in that regard so we're doing some work that will assist in the expedition of the vetting but US officials are currently not in a position to undertake the vetting until they get that direction."
The Australian government has been reassuring the public that it has secured a deal with the Trump Administration to send refugees to the US.
Although the US President has condemned the deal as 'dumb', he has indicated he will honour it, subject to strict vetting of the refugees.
But Mr Pezzullo told the estimates committee there's no guarantee the refugees will be granted permission to settle in the US.
"All persons who go to America under this agreement can only go once they've been vetted by the American security authorities. In the end, the US will decide how many they take and they will take the numbers they can subject to their vetting procedures."
The Immigration Minister also defended the government's efforts to secure Australia's borders.
Liberal Senator David Fawcett added that it was the preceding Labor government which allowed so many unauthorised arrivals.
"I do question the ethics of nitpicking when your particular group perhaps brought the fleas in the first place." [Unidentified voice - Hear hear, nicely put]
A few hours later, Senator Fawcett said he was taken out of context by the media, saying he wasn't labelling refugees and asylum seekers as fleas.
"I was objecting to the fact the Labor Party were pursuing very small detail in the process in the departments that occurred at a period of great activity and stress for the department. So the metaphor was that if they were nitpicking, they were responsible for the cause of that irritation. It's certainly not intended to apply to people who are refugees. "
The Australian Border Force also revealed concerns about the mental health of its officers taking part in Operation Sovereign Borders.
ABF Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said the effort to stop illegal boat arrivals into Australia was taking its toll.
"[There is] Significant anecdotal evidence in relation to stress suffered by those working on the frontline, not just those that were pulling dead bodies out of the water but those that were dealing with the trauma of the interceptions, the capsizes. Several of our officers went overboard, [and] were at significant risk of harm and indeed death to themselves."
He has asked medical professionals to investigate if any ABF officials are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the extent of it across the Force.
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