The Governor of Papua New Guinea's Oro Province says the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill hasn't properly explained how the new refugee arrangement with Australia will practically work.
Gary Juffa has joined a growing chorus of concern over the arrangement whereby all boat people arriving in Australia who are subsequently found to be genuine refugees will be resettled in PNG.
Mr Juffa says that when announced on Friday, the arrangement took many, including a majority of MPs, by surprise.
He says there was no debate or consultation on an arangement which could have far-reaching consequences for PNG people.
"Kevin Rudd stating that they may be settled in Manus and other parts of Papua New Guinea. Really? Like, where? In my province? we're not going to accept them. Why? Because we have so many problems. We don't have land, we have a defunct provincial government administration that we are trying to review and rebuild. We're barely able to deliver goods and services to our people so I for one will say that I'm going to find it very difficult to accept asylum seekers or refugees in my province."
The Governor of Papua New Guinea's Oro Province, Gary Juffa.
