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The first official meeting between the two leaders here in Sydney lasted a couple of hours, covering a wide range of topics but the one that gained the most attention was New Zealand's long-standing offer to take some of the asylum seekers Australia is holding into offshore detention centres. At the moment about 600 men are refusing to leave the centre on Manus Island which was closed last week and they're doing so despite access to electricity, food and water being cut off.
Australia has said the refugees can move elsewhere in PNG, go to a third country or back to their country of origin. The standoff has caught the attention of the United Nations Human Rights office which is urging Australia to restore those basic services. Now Australia has said all along that it will not allow refugees to settle in this country as part of its hardline border protection policy to stop asylum seekers from trying to reach Australian shores illegally.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that a resettlement deal with the U.S. involving more than a thousand refugees is a priority at the moment. He also said quote in the wake of that, we can consider other ones, leaving the door open to New Zealand's long-standing offer.
