Papua New Guinea police and immigration authorities removed by force all asylum seekers and refugees from the decommissioned Manus Island detention centre. Video footage showed immigration officials using long metal poles to threaten and hit the men, who had refused to leave the facility due to safety concerns. Many of the men reported that officials had intentionally damaged their belongings during the removal. Papua New Guinea police said all men were cleared from the camp without violence. The Guardian reported that up to 60 men were left without a place to stay, because new accommodation in the three alternative centres that refugees and asylum seekers were sent to is either not ready or full.
Some asylum seekers and refugees were arrested during the removal, including Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani, who had regularly reported from the camp. Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Chief Executive Paul Murphy called the arrest an ‘egregious attack on press freedom’. The men were later released. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was ‘pleased ... that busloads of people [were] leaving Manus and complying with the directions of the PNG authorities’. Immigration minister Peter Dutton stated that the men on Manus ‘[had] trashed the facility’ and that ‘under no circumstance will these people be coming to Australia’.
Earlier in the week, UNHCR said the situation on Manus was a ‘man-made and entirely preventable humanitarian crisis’ and described it as a ‘damning indictment’ of Australia's offshore detention policy. Twelve former Australians of the Year called for the Prime Minister to allow medical professionals access to Manus, after the Australian Medical Association voted unanimously that access to independent doctors should be granted. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that New Zealand and Australian officials had started discussions on screening processes for refugees on Manus, but Prime Minister Turnbull maintained that his priority was the existing US resettlement deal.
On Nauru, a Rohingya refugee living in offshore detention was seriously injured in a motorbike crash, suffering life-threatening head injuries. Dr Barri Phatarfod, from Doctors for Refugees, said that he needed an immediate medical evacuation out of Nauru. Australia's immigration department was deciding whether or not to grant the evacuation.
The Australian Government's contract with Canstruct – a Queensland construction firm replacing Broadspectrum to provide garrison and welfare services on Nauru – was updated on the government's Austender website, revealing taxpayers will pay $385 million over the next 12 months to maintain offshore processing on the island.
Australian Border Force officials confirmed that the Christmas Island detention centre will shut down within seven months. The centre’s closure was flagged in the 2015 federal budget papers.