Manus Island

More drunken refugees arrested in Manus

This follows the arrest of  two others from Iran the day before  who were charged for drunk and disorderly behaviour on New Years eve.

The three refugees were arrested around 7:30pm in front of the Splendid shop, in Lorengau town.

Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector David Yapu said two of the men are from Bangladesh while  one is from Burma. They are aged 22, 24 and 26.

PPC Yapu said the three men were drunk and were causing a nuisance in town when police were called in to arrest them. They remain in custody and have not been able to pay police bail.

Nauru welcomes Australia's refugee deal with US

Australia has reached a resettlement deal with the United States for refugees being held on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and Nauru.

About 900 men are in camp on Manus Island while about 400 people are in the camp on Nauru with roughly the same number living in the community.

The justice minister David Adeang said while the Nauru government had consistently sought to correct false reports about conditions and safety of the refugees, it had also always stated the need to find suitable third countries for permanent resettlement.

Turnbull, Dutton announce refugee resettlement deal with US

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the agreement this morning, but did not provide any details on timeframes or the number of people involved.

Speaking in Canberra alongside Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Turnbull said the deal would only apply to those currently on Nauru and Manus Island.

"There will be American officials from Homeland Security coming to Australia to begin the process in the next few days."

As of October 31, there were 872 people in the processing centre on Manus Island and 390 people in Nauru's centre.

Australian Senate considers asylum abuse claims

Australia has run the controversial camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru for the past three years, amid heavily criticism from human rights groups, NGOs, medical organisations and former staff.

Supreme Court rules detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island is illegal

The five-man bench of the court ruled the detention breached the right to personal liberty in the PNG constitution.

There are 850 men in the detention centre on Manus Island, about half of whom have been found to be refugees.

The Supreme Court has ordered the PNG and Australian Governments to immediately take steps to end the detention of asylum seekers in PNG.

The centre operators and PNG's immigration authorities have recently been trying to move refugees out of detention and into a so-called transit centre.

Man accused of murdering Manus Island detainee escapes jail

Joshua Kaluvia, a former Salvation Army worker at the Manus Island detention centre, had been facing trial for the wilful murder of Barati in February 2014.

Kaluvia was meant to appear in court in the town of Lorengau on Manus Island this week to continue the trial, but the court was told he had escaped from remand at the Lorengau prison.

A spokesman for PNG Correctional Services confirmed Kaluvia was missing.

“The escapee is Joshua Kaluvia from Muliagani Village in the West New Britain Province,” he said in a statement.

Social media group aids drought stricken island

Panuselu villagers received 64 bags of rice and 1400 litres of water shipped from Lorengau yesterday.

Group administrator Bap Korup said it was a successful appeal for a village of about 400 people.

"I would like to thank Coastal Fuel Lorengau for donation of fuel, and the Port Moresby Institute of Matriculation (PIMS)  for initiating the donations when the appeal was made. Many members of the group chipped in after that,’’ he said.

Malcolm Turnbull rules out offshore detention centre refugees in Australia

He said while he was "concerned" about conditions within the offshore processing network, the Coalition did not want to encourage asylum seekers to risk their lives at sea.

Turnbull told Radio National's Drive program the Federal Government could not afford to take a backwards step on the issue.

"There will be no resettlement of the people on Manus and Nauru in Australia. They will never come to Australia," Turnbull said.

"Now, I know that's tough, we do have a tough border protection policy, you could say it's a harsh policy, but it has worked."