"This latest transfer to Manus Island sends the clearest possible message that coming to Australia by boat is not the way to gain Australian residency," a department spokesman said in a press release from the Australian Embassy and received here Friday.
Under the new arrangement with Papua New Guinea, illegal immigrants will be sent to PNG for evaluation and, if found to be refugees, will be settled there.
"People found not to be refugees may be returned to their home country or a country where they had a right of residence, or held in a transit facility," the spokesman said. (*/M038)
: M. Irfan Ilmie
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