PNG 'prison camp' to close

Australia yesterday agreed to close a camp for asylum-seekers on Papua New Guinea, one of two controversial Pacific island centres attracting growing criticism, but said none of the hundreds of men there now would be resettled on its soil.

Canberra's policy of sending asylum-seekers who arrive by boat to outposts on Papua New Guinea and the tiny Pacific state of Nauru was thrown into turmoil in April when a PNG court ordered the Manus Island centre closed.

"Both Papua New Guinea and Australia are in agreement that the centre is to be closed," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement following talks with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Port Moresby.

Canberra has been under pressure to shut the Australian-funded Manus facility, which as at June 30 held 854 men, following a PNG Supreme Court ruling declaring that holding people there was unconstitutional and illegal.

The centre was in the spotlight this week after Australian media published graphic images of two bloodied Afghan men who had allegedly been attacked with an iron bar by locals on Manus.

The government is also facing criticism about the plight of some 442 asylum-seekers on Nauru, after thousands of leaked incident reports last week detailed allegations of widespread abuse and self-harm, including children wanting to kill themselves.

Under 'Operation Sovereign Borders' asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by boat -- even if they are refugees -- are either sent back to where they departed from or transferred to Nauru and Manus. Dutton said the policy would not change.

The policy has been criticised by rights groups as essentially placing refugees in indefinite detention on remote Pacific islands. But the government says it has stopped deaths at sea after a spate of drownings.

Dutton said Australia and PNG would work together to support asylum-seekers and refugees transition to lives in the developing Pacific nation or return to their country of origin.

Refugee advocates welcomed the decision to close Manus Island, but called on the government to resettle refugees in Australia.