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Manus Island not substandard: PNG minister

Last month the UN's refugee agency slammed conditions at the Manus Island detention centre, but a senior PNG minister has refuted the allegations.

The Main Street in Lorengau, capital of Manus island - AAP-2.jpg
The Main Street in Lorengau, the capital of Manus island. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Papua New Guinea has dismissed allegations Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island is substandard.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees officials described the conditions they encountered at the Manus Island facility as failing to meet international standards.

It also slammed Australia's treatment of asylum seekers as constituting arbitrary, mandatory and indefinite detention in unsafe and inhumane conditions.

PNG foreign minister Rimbink Pato rejected the allegations, saying they were "out of context and out of date".

"I think the report is not a true reflection of what is happening on Manus," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, adding it was a pretty good facility.

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Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Wednesday thanked her PNG counterpart for supporting Australia's border protection policy during high-level bilateral talks at parliament.

Mr Pato said the major hurdle facing the Manus Island facility was whether or not it was legal under PNG law.

An amendment to the PNG constitution, expected to pass its parliament early next year, would resolve that issue.

Both he and Ms Bishop said they had not received any legal advice suggesting they had breached international law by arbitrarily detaining asylum seekers.

"We haven't done anything which is illegal," Mr Pato said.

In its report last month the UNHCR said the conditions on Manus Island amounted to mandatory detention that was "not compatible with international law".


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