Papua New Guinea's foreign minister says it could be some time before the country begins processing the asylum claims of boat arrivals sent there from Australia.
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
PNG foreign minister Rimbink Pato has met with his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop in Canberra to discuss the Regional Settlement Arrangement brokered by the former Labor government.
But processing protocols are not the only issues still being established.
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Under a Rudd government deal to send boat arrivals to Papua New Guinea, that nation is responsible for assessing asylum seekers' claims and, if successful, settling them there permanently.
But four and a half months after the agreement was reached, PNG foreign minister Rimbink Pato admits the earliest the country could pass the legislation needed for processing to begin is February.
"It's a long dragged on process in the sense that the issue of refugee status determination requires a legal and policy framework and the issue of resettlement of those who are found to be genuine refugees also must take place in the context of a policy and legislative framework both of which - because PNG is new to this - we're working on."
In the meantime, there are more than one thousand boat arrivals waiting in Manus Island's detention centre.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees officials have described conditions at the facility as failing to meet international standards, and say Australia's treatment of asylum seekers constitutes arbitrary, mandatory and indefinite detention in unsafe and inhumane conditions.
Mr Pato's dismissing the allegations.
"The reports that have come is not a true reflection of what's happening on Manus. I think the report was out of date. At the present time we have a pretty good facility there. We are law-compliant nations, we are members and parties to the United Nations convention relating to refugees. I would say the report is clearly out of context and out of date."
Detainees aren't the only ones on Manus Island complaining about the asylum seeker deal.
Island MPs and even PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill have been critical of the rollout, saying locals are not benefiting from the deal which was sealed thanks to an extra $420-million in Australian aid over four years.
Mr O'Neill reportedly told parliament he's concerned local business owners are not being granted the opportunities the centre's establishment offers, accusing Australia of a blatant abuse of trust.
But Mr Pato says, after receiving more information from Australian ministers in Canberra, he's satisfied with how the money will be split between Manus Island and other parts of the country.
"There was a lack of clarity and some confusion as to where the money was going and what was being done and that's been clarified and with excitement I'm going to take the news home. I've got a written breif from the Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison so I'm very excited that the work that's being done in terms of translating funding and to what extent these things will be clarified and people will be relieved and excited by what's happening on the ground."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is not expanding on the contents of the briefing.
But she says Australia is encouraging PNG to spend its aid on major projects.
"We want to ensure that the funding we provide is able to go to developing a sustainable economy. We want to move away from direct service delivery like medicines and school books - that's a responsibility of the PNG government. We want to be part of their sustainable economic growth, infrastructure. We talked about the performance benchmarks that the Australian government intends to put in place in relation to our aid budget across the board and also the mutual accountability that must exist for the investment as well as the results."
Ms Bishop says Australia will be implementing performance benchmarks to ensure aid is being spent efficiently.
Ms Bishop and Mr Pato met with 17 ministers from both sides of the Torres Strait for the 22nd Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum.
