Transfer of remaining people in Nauru and PNG

The St Vincent de Paul Society welcomes the introduction of a Bill to Parliament to support the transfer to Australia of the remaining people in Nauru and PNG, whom Australia has held there for nearly a decade.

The Society, on behalf of our 45,000 members and the Vincentian Refugee Network, has long argued for offshore processing to be abolished and for people seeking asylum and refugees in PNG and Nauru to be resettled in Australia.

In the last decade, Australia has failed to welcome or protect people who have sought asylum in our country, arriving here by boat, despite them being entitled to seek protection under international law.

Over that time, more than 3,000 people have been sent to PNG and Nauru and been forced to live in substandard conditions and experience immeasurable suffering and neglect.