Australia's Refugee Action Coalition says reassurances that asylum seeker applications on Manus Island in PNG are being processed are a farce.
Detainees on Manus Island Photo: AAP
A statement from the PNG government issued at the start of the month said all refugee status assessments had been completed and were being considered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Rimbink Pato.
The statement said all status determinations would be finalised by the end of June while segregation of asylum seekers based on the outcome of their applications would begin on the 6th of June.
But the Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul said the claims of progress being made on Manus were farcical and at best posturing on the part of the PNG government.
"There were 30 people who had previously been negative who got positive. There are three people who had positive and now are negative. There is one person who hasn't even made an application but he got a notice from the immigration department that he was considered positive. 45 other people who haven't made an application have now got letters, saying that they are negative."
Ian Rintoul said there were also concerns of possible corruption in the process.
He said attempts to resettle refugees in Papua New Guinea have so far failed miserably.
