Immigration minister Peter Dutton told 2GB radio that the government had cut off welfare payments to 71 asylum seekers after they failed to lodge claims for Australian protection by 1 October. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis said that the centre’s lawyers would challenge the legality of the move. He added that he was worried that due to the deadline, claims had been rushed and might therefore be rejected by the government.
Asylum seekers held on Manus Island sent a letter to PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neil asking PNG authorities to oppose Australia’s plans to resettle them in surrounding PNG communities and instead help them relocate to ‘safe’ countries. This comes after a note allegedly appeared in the Manus Island Processing Centre stating that asylum seekers in the US resettlement process were able to apply for transfer to Nauru, which was taken as a sign by Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul that Australia had no faith in the US deal. The Manus Island Processing Centre is due to close on 31 October.