Manus, visas top of Bishop PNG visit talks

Julie Bishop is making her first ministerial visit to Papua New Guinea, where asylum seekers and visas will be discussed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop shakes hands with her Papua New Guinea counterpart Rimbink Pato during the 2013 Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum (AAP)

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she will talk with ministers in Papua New Guinea about management of the troubled Manus Island processing centre during her first ministerial visit to the country.

Ms Bishop will spend two days in PNG where she'll be seeking an update on the detention facility, which has been criticised by international bodies such as Amnesty International and the United Nations.

There have also been reports of asylum seeker protests at the centre, and that it had to be evacuated last year because of a violent clash between police and the PNG army.

"I am aware of these allegations and some of the claims about the management of the centre," Ms Bishop told ABC Radio before leaving Canberra.

"I will certainly be talking to the relevant ministers about it."

The issue of streamlining visa arrangements between the two countries will also be discussed, after Australia refused PNG requests for a visa waiver program.

"If we can get visa arrangements to be far more streamlined then that is certainly something we will work towards," she said.