Sunday, 02 March 2014
At a special meeting in Port Moresby on March 1 between Papua New Guinea Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, the Hon Rimbink Pato, Papua New Guinea Attorney General, the Hon Kerenga Kua and the Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon Scott Morrison, Australia and PNG agreed to establish a monthly Joint Ministerial Forum to directly oversee implementation of the Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) between the two countries.
The meeting also saw PNG and Australia recommit themselves to the RRA and the broader partnership that is necessary to effectively deliver on the good intentions of this agreement.
The monthly Joint Ministerial Forum, beginning in April, will also involve the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop. It will provide clear direction and oversight to the implementation of the RRA and provide a timely and accountable process to ensure that the arrangement is being converted into tangible and practical outcomes.
At the meeting Ministers expressed their great regret, sympathy and condolences regarding the tragic death of Mr Barati and the injuries as a result of the events that took place at Manus Island on the night of February 17.
Ministers also confirmed their commitment to the comprehensive investigations already underway into these events.
The tragic incident on Manus Island and the joint response to these events will be an early focus of the monthly Ministerial Forum, to ensure a coordinated and cooperative approach consistent with the spirit of the partnership that already exists.
This work will include greater synchronisation of our efforts and communication as well as seeking to draw together our respective inquiry and review processes into the incident.
To this end Ministers agreed that Australia and PNG would work to synthesise, as appropriate, the independent administrative review, the police investigation and the coronial inquiry to ensure a clear statement of the facts and a shared understanding of the findings and implications of these events for the ongoing management of the centre and the resettlement process.
With respect to the independent administrative inquiry to be conducted by Mr Cornall, Ministers agreed this review should be conducted in partnership and with the participation of the PNG Government and that arrangements would be made to incorporate this into the conduct of the review.
The forum will also receive regular updates on the delivery of $420m in projects, in addition to Australia's annual PNG aid programme, that formed part of Australia's commitments to this arrangement.
Delivery of these commitments has already commenced with the deployment of 50 Australian Federal Police officers in PNG prior to Christmas last year. Work continues on the many other projects as well as on the $26m in new aid activities in Manus Province where upgrades are being made to schools, the hospital, roads and local market infrastructure.
Ministers agreed that central to the RRA is the processing of asylum claims and the resettlement of genuine refugees in PNG. The new Ministerial Forum will enable progress on processing and resettlement arrangements to be reported on a monthly basis to Ministers, to ensure that the momentum that is necessary to fulfil the objectives of the agreement is maintained.
Minister Pato said: 'This meeting was timely and opportune to discuss some of the issues of recent times and the positive outcomes we are both working to achieve as Ministers at a leadership level, moving forward for both Australia and PNG.
'I welcome the monthly Joint Ministerial Forum. It will create an impetus to highlight the issues and manage the outcomes going forward,' he said.
Minister Morrison said: 'The boats are stopping and our partnership with PNG has been an important component in what we have been able to achieve to date. This monthly Joint Ministerial Forum will aid us to keep this important arrangement on track and translate announcements into action, when it comes to the critical issues of processing claims and resettling refugees in PNG.'
URL:http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm212227.htm
Last update: Monday, 03 March 2014 at 10:45 AEST