This is to comply with the PNG Supreme Court ruling of April 26, 2016, that the centre was unconstitutional.
According to PNG Industry News O’Neill met with Turnbull and Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, this week to discuss the closing of the centre.
“Further technical consultations will take place at the start of 2017 to move to the next level of this process. Our co-operation on this policy has saved countless lives of children, women and men who would otherwise have attempted to cross the Indian Ocean in unsafe boats,” said O’Neill.
O’Neill also thanked Turnbull for the Australian Governments support to PNG’s preparations for the APEC 2018 Leaders Summit.