In a radio interview with Alan Jones on 2GB, immigration minister Peter Dutton defended the introduction of ‘final departure Bridging E Visa’, claiming that people were ‘ripping the system off’. Meanwhile, Australian Greens senator Nick McKim stated that his party was looking into how to reverse the decision to create the new visa in the Senate.
Dutton also reported to the Nine Network this week that Indonesian authorities had found a vessel holding 33 asylum seekers en route to Australia or New Zealand. He labelled the finding a ‘really significant wake-up call’ that showed that Australia had to remain vigilant.
Over 100 asylum seekers were moved from the Manus Island Detention Centre to Port Moresby. They were told that the move was so that they could receive specialist treatment for medical conditions, but some are worried that it is part of the government’s efforts to close the centre by 31 October. Ben Moghimi, a moved Iranian refugee, fears that he and the other patients will be left in Port Moresby if the centre closes.
A Rohingya insurgency continues in Rakhine state, in Myanmar’s west. Since 25 August , tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have attempted to cross into Bangladesh, as Myanmar troops have fired upon them and Bangladeshi authorities have turned them away.