The Supreme Court inquiry that has been conducted by the Chief Justice into the status of the orders issued by the court in relation to Asylum seekers in Manus has been stopped from further advancing.
The same judges who sat on the Supreme Court bench on April 26, that found the detainment of Asylum seekers in the Manus centre illegal and unconstitutional, today issued orders discharging that inquiry.
Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia took it on himself to conduct an inquiry into the status of the orders issued by the court in Namah’s case on April 26.
The inquiry was discharged and stopped from continuing today after the court agreed that the inquiry was being conducted without a terms of reference.
This now means that consequential orders that Asylum seekers in Manus have been seeking from the court in relations to their continued detainment will be dropped from this case filed by Namah.
The Asylum seekers now termed ‘residence’ will have to pursue their agenda from the two cases their lawyers filed, and not from the case filed by Belden Namah when he was opposition leader back in 2013.
Chief Justice, Sir Salamo Injia in a Supreme Court sitting on Aug 8 issued the directions for parties; the Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato, Chief Migration officer, Mataio Rabura, the State and the transferees in Manus to go before the same Supreme Court bench that issued the orders to clarify who is responsible for the running of the centre.
In this case, the previous court order was for both the Australian and PNG government to take necessary steps to cease the unconstitutional and illegal detention of Asylum seekers on Manus Island.
This will no longer take place after Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, Justice Don Sawong and Justice Terrence Higgins, three of the five member Supreme Court bench discharged the inquiry.
Pic source: ABC