Joy and trepidation for asylum seekers on Nauru

Transcript

Asylum seekers on Nauru have welcomed the government's announcement to open the detention centre there with both joy and trepidation.

The dramatic announcement to transfer to an 'open facility' was announced last week, and was followed by a pledge to make all refugee determinations within a week.

A spokesperson for the Australia-based Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul, says the asylum seekers he's spoken to on Nauru are happy with the announcement.

But, he told Jamie Tahana the fact authorities are now able to process most asylum seekers in a week, when most have been waiting for more than two years for their determinations is inexcusable.

IAN RINTOUL: Well people are very happy to hear that they might be finally getting answers. Most of them have been waiting almost two years since they had their initial interviews and that's really just been inexcusable. I have spoken to a few people who have got answers and they are very happy about that. It's also clear that the Nauru government is not going to get it done in a week and they've already been telling people that it's going to take considerably longer than they initially thought.

JAMIE TAHANA: It's a really rapid speed up with the processing. I guess it does beg the question how it's taken two years to do these determinations when they are able to do them in two weeks, or one week even.

IR: There is no explanation for that. They have been sitting on these interviews for almost two years. So it's just been a lack of political will. But it's also very clear that this decision is a very hasty one. There is no proper preparation, there are no arrangements made about how people are going to be housed, education arrangements, language, school. Anything like that. The fact is the vast majority of people who are in the detention centres are going to remain in the detention centres because there is nowhere else for them to go. The door may be open but they are still in the tents, there is still no facilities for them to go, there is still no allowances for them to have any kind of money to spend on Nauru.

JT: Ok, so it'll be the same situation but they will be able to go for a walk - they won't have money to spend, or be able to get a job or anything like that.

IR: Well, no, people I have spoken to for example who have been found to be refugees, who have been told they have been found to be refugees, that it will be a couple of weeks at least before there's some kind of briefing arrangement about what that is actually going to mean and an arrangement to give some kind of allowance. People don't really go for a walk much on Nauru, it's about an hour and a half walk from the detention centre into the main settlement. People are still going to by in large be confined to the detention centre. While it is a very important step forward that people are getting answers, there is no excuse for why they have been waiting so long. It is simply been something that the Australian government, the Nauru government, has not been committed in doing. But the fact is the change in itself will not mean a lot for people. There's still no resettlement on Nauru. Their life is still in limbo, even if they don't have the fence around them, they can't get off the island.

JT: Are there any fears among refugees, or uncertainty, because there have been tensions between locals and asylum seekers in the past on Nauru.

IR: Yeah so some people who have already been determined as refugees will not leave the detention centre area because of their fears of what's happening in the community outside. It's very clear there is a reign of terror by a minority against women on Nauru, that is not going to change. The facilities on Nauru are no more secure, the police are no more actually accountable, transparent. The attitude of the government is that refugees are second class citizens that are being tolerated. None of those things have changed.