Refugees

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Mr. Turnbull said in Sydney on Sunday he did not believe that Donald Trump, who campaigned on dramatic immigration restrictions, would torpedo the arrangement after he is inaugurated on January 20.

"It's a very good arrangement and we are confident that it will continue through the change in administration," he said.

Anna Neistat recently visited Nauru and conducted research into the plight of the people being held in the Australian-run camps on the island.

Amnesty concluded that Australia was effectively torturing the asylum seekers and refugees as a deterrent to others considering trying to reach Australia by boat.

Canberra had claimed it was necessary to stop the boats and save lives, but Ms Neistat said it was high time Australians questioned this.

Now, the agency is working with Australia in what both sides call an unusual, not-to-be-replicated agreement to send some of those refugees across the world, to be resettled in the United States.

The deal, announced by Australia last week, is aimed at shutting down two offshore detention facilities — one on the island nation of Nauru and the other on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea — where hundreds of people are housed in what rights groups describe as deplorable conditions.

The United States has agreed to take some of them; how many, and how quickly, remains unclear.

Earlier this month, Australia and the US reached a resettlement deal for refugees who are being held in offshore prisons after having tried to reach Australia by boat.

Few journalists have had access to Nauru since the re-establishment of Australia's detention camps there but Sky News journalist Laura Jayes and a cameraman were able to get on the island earlier this month.

She says she was stunned to hear that refugees did not want to take the American deal, with one Muslim saying he did not want to go to President-elect Donald Trump's America.

Scrutiny of the lifetime visa ban by the Liberal-majority Human Rights Committee found there was no reason why refugees and asylum seekers held in immigration detention on Nauru and Manus Island should be banned from visiting Australia for business or tourism in the future.

Chaired by Liberal MP Ian Goodenough, the committee found the ban could be unnecessary because there is no suggestion that any detainee being held presents a danger to Australia or that any future visit could have any adverse effect on national security.

Australia has run the controversial camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru for the past three years, amid heavily criticism from human rights groups, NGOs, medical organisations and former staff.

Speculation about such a deal has been prompted by the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's announcement that asylum-seekers who arrive by boat will be prevented by law from ever being let into the country.

The denial comes as a United Nations investigator arrives in Australia today for an 18-day visit to immigration detention centres.

The proposed Australian law would cover asylum-seekers on Manus Island and Nauru.

That mix of fear, hope and greed has now produced a horrifying record.

More people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year than ever before: at least 3,800. That's 73 a week. That's 13 every day.

Here's a look at how we got to this point.

Why are they doing it?

They have no choice. They are Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, escaping war. They are Nigerians and Eritreans in search of a better life.

As many of you would be aware, the Governments of Nauru and Australia have collaborated on a remote processing model whereby asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat are taken to Nauru for determination of their asylum claims and temporary settlement.

Speaking at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants General Assembly Plenary Meeting in New York, Nauru’s President Baron Waqa said the government is committed to continue their contribution towards a safe, humane and dignified strategy for international and regional cooperation in addressing this humanitarian emergency.

He said Nauru welcomes the adoption of the political declaration of this high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants.