NZ's offer to take 150 Manus Island refugees could proceed, says Australian Immigration Minister

November 17, 2017
Peter Dutton.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has signalled the New Zealand Government's offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus Island detention centre could proceed without Australia's blessing.

Mr Dutton said an arrangement for New Zealand to resettle the 150 refugees could proceed via an agreement exclusively with Papua New Guinea, which Manus Island is a province of.

New Zealand will spend $3 million on essential services for refugees in Manus Island and Nauru detention centres.

Mr Dutton said Australia could not block such an agreement between two sovereign states.

However, the Australian Immigration Minister warned such an arrangement could harm New Zealand's diplomatic relationship with Australia.

"That's an issue between those two countries. Any sovereign state can enter into bilateral arrangements," Mr Dutton said in a Sky News interview on Thursday. 

"They would have to think about other equities within the respective relationships – they would have to think about their relationship with Australia." 

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