Almost a year after the Regional Resettlement Arrangement was signed, asylum seekers on Manus Island are starting to find out if their claims for protection have been accepted.
But the determinations are being sent to Papua New Guinea's Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato, who will have the final say on which refugees are allowed to stay.
Manus Island MP Ronnie Knight says he would not be surprised if the government's requirements are impossibly stringent.
"Maybe the criteria will be that none of the people at Lorengau will be able to fulfil the criteria, if you know what I mean."
(Journalist:) "You could foresee the government sets the criteria so tight that no-one stays?"
(Knight:) "Exactly. For example, those people who took part in the riot and the unrest that happened at the detention centre. They will be charged for riotous assembly and behaving in a manner to cause a fight and causing a riot, so maybe, when we get down to the next couple of weeks, we'll find out what's going to happen. But I do not foresee many, if any, asylum seekers being settled in Papua New Guinea. And I don't think they will want to stay in Papua New Guinea either, from what I hear from them."Mr Knight's comment comes after Rimbink Pato told ABC Radio the PNG government may pick and choose refugees, based on their qualifications.
He says he and his Australian counterpart, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, still have to see what the PNG cabinet decides.
"There's an expert panel which is going to formulate the policy framework within which we will act. And depending on what the recommendations are -- if they, for example, impose a quota, (or) if they, for example, require a particular type of skilled persons for resettlement -- those are matters for the cabinet."
"Whilst Mr Morrison and I could be going in one direction, we will report back to our respective cabinets, and then the cabinet will make a final say. And then, obviously, I will be following the decision of the cabinet."
The idea of only resettling refugees with in demand skills is something Ronnie Knight supports.
The Manus MP says Papua New Guinea suffers from a brain drain, where its best graduates go overseas in search of better jobs.
But the director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre in Melbourne, human-rights lawyer David Manne, says selective resettlement would be unfair.
"This really underscores the fundamental problem of resettling refugees in a country like PNG, and that is expecting an impoverished country that struggles to look after the needs of its own people, let alone the needs of refugees," he said.
"The bottom line is that refugees should be resettled on the basis of their need for protection, not the needs of the other country for skills enhancement."
Scott Morrison has not responded to specific SBS questions on the PNG leaders' comments.
But his office forwarded a statement originally released in April.
It said, among many other things, all people transferred to Papua New Guinea under the Regional Resettlement Arrangement would be resettled in that country.
Speaking on Macquarie Radio last month, Mr Morrison remained adamant Papua New Guinea would resettle all Manus Island asylum seekers found to be refugees.
"We were able to confirm that everyone who's in PNG who is found to be a refugee will be resettled in Papua New Guinea. That's where they'll be."
It is not the first time Australia and Papua New Guinea have given conflicting statements about how refugees will be resettled.
The deadly riots on Manus Island were preceded by a visit to the centre from PNG officials who allegedly went "off script"* and told detainees they would not be settled there.
The officials allegedly also told them they would receive no help to go to a third country.
Mr Morrison has previously denied the comments were made.
But a former Manus Island migration agent, whistleblower Liz Thompson, says the PNG leaders' latest remarks suggest otherwise.
She says the indications that not all refugees will be settled strengthen the argument that the February rioting was sparked by similar remarks.
"I've always thought that that's what happened on Sunday. I believe that what happened on the Sunday at the meeting was that the Department of Immigration from Australia was pushing its line that 'You're going to stay in PNG,' and I suspect that the PNG authorities pushed their line, which they've always articulated, which is, 'Actually, we haven't made that decision.' It's precisely this stuff that led up to what happened on the 16th and 17th at Manus."
Scott Morrison says the Australian government's report into the deadly riots will soon be released "in full" -- but with redactions to protect personal privacy.
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