Culture

Australia Is Reportedly Trying To Sign Off On A Refugee Deal With The US Before Trump Takes Over

The deal could end offshore detention.

by Osman Faruqi  11 November 2016

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Donald Trump might have won the US election but he doesn’t actually take office until Inauguration Day on January 20. That means just over two more months of President Obama before the formal transition of power.

According to a report in The Australian this morning the Turnbull government is trying to make the most of that two month window by negotiating a new refugee deal that could end offshore detention.

Under the deal Australia would reportedly send the 1,800 detainees currently on Nauru and Manus Island to the US for resettlement.

In September the Turnbull government announced it would start accepting refugees currently languishing in Costa Rican camps in a move that surprised analysts. That announcement triggered speculation that a refugee deal with the US, where Australia would accept refugees from Costa Rica in return for the US resettling refugees living Australian immigration detention, was imminent.

No one has really explained the logic of why we can’t resettle the refugees we’ve sent to Nauru and Manus Island but are apparently happy to resettle refugees from Costa Rica.

A similar “refugee swap” with Malaysia, proposed by the Gillard government, was struck down by the High Court in 2011 for breaching Australian law and our international obligations. The High Court argued that since Malaysia was not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, there was no way to guarantee of refugees Australia sent to the country.

The US is a signatory to the convention, so it’s less likely the High Court would find a Turnbull-Obama deal to be in breach of our international obligations.

The government has refused to confirm or deny the reports of a deal with the US and The Australian‘s report doesn’t cite any sources. But Christopher Pyne said on Today this morning that “These are people who are refugees… who have been found to be refugees who, if they are settled in a country like the United States, that will be a good thing.”

“There certainly is time – two and a half months is plenty of time – and if it’s the case it will be another great achievement from the Turnbull government,” Pyne said.

Parliament is currently debating a Coalition proposal to ban refugees arriving by boat from ever entering Australia. The government has argued that such a ban is a prerequisite to these kind of refugee swap deals (without giving any explanation as to why), which is pretty confusing since they won’t actually confirm whether or not they’re actively being negotiated.

So the government may or not be pursuing a deal with the US, that may or may not be illegal, to send refugees we’re currently housing on Nauru and Manus Island to Trump’s America. But we’re trying to do it while Obama is still President because Trump wouldn’t actually be okay with the deal.

Got it?