Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has called on Belden Namah to stop grandstanding over the Supreme Court decision on the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
“Let the governments of Papua New Guinea and Australia go about getting on with the process of adhering to court orders.
“Closure of the centre will require coordinate effort and our officials from both countries are working on this at the moment,” PM O’Neill said.
“Just standing on a soapbox and beating your chest does nothing to change the processes involved in adhering to this decision.
“The centre will not close overnight as it is a significant scale of operation and this process has to be done properly.
“The essential part in all of this is to adhere to the decision of the court in a timeframe that is acceptable to the court.
“Belden Namah should focus on his own legal issues before trying to tell anyone else how to interpret court decisions.”
The Prime Minister said Namah’s grandstanding is going to play right into the hands of people smugglers and will be the trigger for more deaths at sea.
“He has to try and understand the complexities of this issue.
“The people smugglers take news stories from people like Namah to try and convince families to attempt to travel to Australia, and because of this many children, women and men will die.
“Ultimately the people smugglers will use Namah’s words to suggest that trafficking routes are open, which of course is not true.
“Papua New Guinea played an important role in preventing deaths at sea at the hands of people smugglers, we can be proud that we have been part of this international operation that has saved lives."
Prime Minister O’Neill said discussion was ongoing between officials from Papua New Guinea and Australia, and further announcements would be made at the appropriate time.