Namah Responds to PM on Manus Island Center

Opposition Leader Belden Namah has refused to accept statements from the National Government claiming that PNG laws were not circumvented when the Manus Island Asylum Seekers Processing Center was established.

Mr Namah was also incensed at the Government’s labeling of moves by the Opposition to seek a Supreme Court Interpretation on the Center as a “joke”, labeling the decision to house asylum seekers in PNG on behalf of Australia as having the “hallmarks of a personal decision for personal gain, which has turned into a national problem with little more than a rubber-stamp from the NEC.”

In a press statement released today, Mr Namah responded by saying that the Prime Minister’s decision to “take on Australia’s responsibility to receive and process foreign asylum seekers coming to its shores flies in the face of our national constitution and the integrity of our laws.”

Mr Namah said that although the Prime Minister had assured the country of the Center’s legality under the national Constitution, he had failed to specify the relevant provisions and laws that formed the basis for the decision.

The Opposition is concerned that the detention of persons in the Manus Island facility is a contravention of Section 42 on the National Constitution which guarantees the “Liberty of the Person.”

Mr Namah also refused to accept the National Government’s argument that the country was “bound by international conventions and charters with respect to the Asylum Seekers Detention Scheme.”

“Any international charters or conventions must first be ratified under PNG law through the drafting or amendment of existing legislation – especially those that, as in this case, bear constitutional and legal ramifications,” Mr Namah said.

The Opposition leader further stated that “if the Prime Minister wants PNG to be a regional leader, a goal common to us all, then it is his duty to conduct government business in a manner befitting the chief executive officer of his country. If he fails in this duty, we as the leaders of the alternative government will ensure that he faces the full legal consequences.”

Mr Namah reiterated the importance of preserving “the integrity of our laws and processes and the dignity of our nation. Protecting and enforcing our sovereign rights in a court of law is not a mockery; it is due process and part of our fundamental responsibility as political leaders.”

Mr Namah called on the Prime Minister to act in the best interests of the country.