A 32-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker who was detained on Manus Island was found dead in the grounds of Lorengau Hospital on 2 October. Manus Island Police Commander David Yapu has called it a suicide. Shamindan Kanapadhi, another detainee and a friend of the man, said that his friend had not been given adequate care after cutting his own neck three days before. The death is the second on Manus Island in the past two months.
The Australian Government will cut off the welfare payments of hundreds of asylum seekers who arrived by boat between 2008 and 2013. These asylum seekers may also be deported now that 1 October, the cut-off date to apply for protection visas, has passed. The immigration department website now reads that those who did not apply are ‘expected to depart Australia’ and risk being detained and removed from Australia if they do not comply. As of 29 September, about 500 asylum seekers still had not applied for protection.
Fifty-four refugees left Manus Island and Nauru for the USA, under the resettlement deal agreed upon by the Obama administration and the Turnbull Government. The US government will resettle the refugees across the country in states including Texas, Georgia and Oregon.