Monday November 5, 2018
By ROD McGUIRK


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Australia refuses to allow asylum seekers who attempt to reach its shores by boat to ever settle in the country. Asylum seekers are banished to the poor island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea where some have languished for more than five years.

"What the Australian people have said is that it’s not good enough to trap people on an island offshore from Australia indefinitely for no reason other than that they sought asylum on our shores,” Phelps told a Sydney ceremony that declared her victory.

"The children on Nauru must be evacuated as soon as possible,” she added.

A government envoy said last week that Australia hoped to have all the asylum seeker children on Nauru brought to the Australian mainland by the end of the year.

Children and their parents were being brought to Australia at an increasing pace in recent weeks in an indication that their plight had become an electoral liability. There were only 38 children left on Nauru last week.

The government’s policy has all but ended the people-smuggling boat traffic from Southeast Asian ports.

Pressure has mounted on the government from doctors and rights groups to make an exception for children, but some government lawmakers argue that would only encourage asylum seekers to put children at risk by bringing them on treacherous voyages to Australia on rickety boats.

The United States agreed in 2016 to accept up to 1,250 refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea. But after more than a year of screening, only 439 have found new homes in the U.S.

Morrison said his government remained functional despite losing its majority.

"It’s obviously easier if there’s one extra but with one less, the government will continue to function in the way you’d expect it to — in a professional way working closely with” independent lawmakers, Morrison told reporters.