A notice was posted at the Manus Island detention facility requiring detainees to move to a new facility in the town of Lorengau, where US officials have begun ‘extreme vetting’ to determine eligibility for the US-Australia refugee resettlement deal. The new facility has a lower standard of medical care and is less secure than the detention centre, with many refugees having reported violence and abuse in the area.
A total of 659 asylum seekers who arrived by boat lodged protection claims in the two weeks before immigration minister Peter Dutton’s four-month deadline on the claims. This leaves 7194 asylum seekers who did not apply by the deadline. Last week, Peter Dutton announced a new immovable deadline of 1 October for these people to make their claims. Refugee legal services told The Guardian that this deadline was impossible to meet.
A class action against the Australian Government on behalf of Manus Island detainees will begin this Wednesday. The lead plaintiff is Majid Kamasee, an Iranian man who has been detained at Manus for several years, but the case will also represent 1905 other asylum seekers. Law firm Slater and Gordon will argue that these people’s imprisonment was illegal and that the conditions in the centre led to ‘serious physical and psychological injuries’.