‘Residents’ in Manus seek summary judgment

The residents held at the Regional Processing Centre in Manus will now be seeking summary judgment before the Supreme Court.

Following the court’s decision on Monday to discharge the inquiry conducted by the Chief Justice, the transferees in Manus, who are now called residents, will proceed their case with the two separate enforcement applications they filed earlier.

The residents’ lawyer, Ben Lomai, will now continue their case in court with the two Supreme Court Enforcement Applications; SCAPP No. 04 of 2015 filed Behnam Satah & 301 others and SCAPP No. 03 of 2016, filed by Mohammad Nure Alam & 287 others against the state.

They will be seeking their release from the detention centres and compensation for breach of their constitutional rights.

They will also be asking the court to order that the PNG Government consult with the Australian Government to facilitate resettlement of all the asylum seekers and refugees back to Australia or to a third country that is durable to resettle them.

The inquiry, which was discharged on Monday, was conducted by Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia to see if orders of April 26 were being complied with after a five-man Supreme Court bench found that the detainment of asylum seekers in the Manus centre was illegal and unconstitutional.

One of the orders was to have both PNG and Australian governments take necessary steps to cease the unconstitutional and illegal detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island.

The inquiry was discharged and stopped from further continuing yesterday after the court agreed that the inquiry was being conducted without a terms of reference and was done out of jurisdiction.

Author: 
Sally Pokiton