The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court will next month consider whether an inquiry into the lawfulness of the Manus Island detention centre can continue.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The inquiry, which was halted by a legal challenge by the PNG government in May, was initiated by the country's National Court and Justice David Cannings to examine the agreement between Australia and PNG to process and resettle asylum seekers in Manus Island. The inquiry aims to also investigate whether the treatment of asylum seekers on the island breaches PNG's human rights laws.
The appeal against the government's legal challenge comes as new images obtained by Fairfax Media show that three metre-high security fencing has been installed around the Manus Island facility, more than seven months after the deadly violence that killed Reza Barati and injured dozens more.
Security fencing was one of the key recommendations made by border protection chief, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, in November last year.
During the violence in February, witnesses to the brutal attack, who spoke to Fairfax Media, say the fencing was so unstable it was pushed over by PNG nationals, including those employed as security guards at the detention centre.
Amnesty International, with the assistance of the Human Rights Law Centre have made submissions to the appeal urging for the PNG Supreme Court to recommence the inquiry as soon as possible.
"It's been 22 months since the first asylum seeker was transferred to Manus under these so-called 'processing and resettlement' arrangements," said the Human Rights Law Centre's director of legal advocacy, Daniel Webb.
"In that time, two asylum seekers have died and about 70 have been seriously injured, but not one has actually been processed and resettled. Over 1000 men are just languishing indefinitely in conditions the UN have said are inhumane."
A judgement on whether the inquiry can continue has been scheduled for October.
But Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has expressed "frustration" at the delay in processing asylum seekers in PNG.
"There is still some distance to travel and it's frustrating but I'm still confident we will get there," he told the National Press Club last week.
It was revealed during a Senate estimates in May that Australian taxpayers were funding the PNG government's legal battles against opponents of the controversial offshore detention centres. The funding, costing between $350,000 and $370,000, was used to defend a constitutional challenge initiated by PNG's opposition leader Belden Mr Namah.
