O primeiro-ministro Malcolm Turnbull confirmou o fechamento do centro em uma coletiva à imprensa junto ao primeiro-ministro da Papua Nova-Guiné, Peter O'Neill, ontem, em Port Moresby.
Ao final de janeiro, 861 homens estavam detidos no local.
Falando à Sky News, o ministro Dutton disse ter a expectativa de que um grande número destes requerentes de asilo acabe sendo aceito pelos EUA, como parte do acordo firmado anteriormente com o então presidente Barack Obama.
Mas caso não consigam visto para os EUA, o ministro da Imigração disse que eles podem permanecer na Papua Nova-Guiné ou serem enviados para outros países, como o Camboja:
"We are not going to accept those people. We are not taking people from Manus Island or from Nauru to settle permanently in Australia. And we have been very clear and consistent about that. It's been a core reason as to why we have been able to stop the people smugglers in their tracks. And we're not goign to retreat on that. So we will work with the PNG government, but some people will remain in PNG. We have been very clear with the PNG government. That is the nature of the agreement struck."
Mas Ian Rintoul, porta-voz da Coalisão de Ação pelos Refugiados, disse que o centro de detenção da ilha Manus já deveria ter fechado há muito tempo e que a Austrália deveria recebê-los aqui.
"Manus needs to close yesterday - not by the end of the year. We have had these reassuring noises from PNG Immigration and from Australian officials before but there was a court decision in April one year ago that said Manus had to close. So the idea that it's going to be closed by October. Well it's nice to hear that but that will be four years people have been left on Manus Island and I think it's really beholden on the Australian government to bring people from Manus to Australia."
