Refugees exiled to Papua New Guinea by Australia have been told they will be evicted from their Australian-sponsored accommodation after bills were not paid for more than a year.
The refugees and asylum seekers were formerly detained within Australia’s Manus Island detention centre before it was ruled unlawful and ordered shut by PNG’s supreme court. About 70 men remain held in PNG, most in rented accommodation in Port Moresby.
The Australian government claims it is no longer responsible for the men, but it continues to provide an undisclosed amount of money to PNG for accommodation and welfare.
At least one refugee has already been forcibly evicted from his accommodation, while four others have been relocated. Another 17 have been threatened with eviction.
Refugees say they have had services, such as electricity and television, cut off, and have been told they will be evicted because of mounting unpaid bills, with some running to as long as a year.
“Who is responsible? No one is taking responsibility,” one refugee told Guardian Australia, adding he had been repeatedly threatened his eviction was “coming soon”.
“I need to go out from here, from this country,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
“No life and no future here … already a decade.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: “The department does not have any role in the ongoing management of, or service delivery arrangements for, individuals remaining in PNG.”
Australia has repeatedly stated it transferred responsibility for the men’s welfare to the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority at the end of 2021. Australia’s position is not supported by international law, which maintains that Australia retains legal responsibility for those it has sent offshore. Australia continues to pay for the men’s accommodation and welfare.
Documents uncovered before parliament this year show the Morrison government signed a “confidential bilateral agreement” with PNG in December 2021. And the Australian government continues to pay the PNG government’s Immigration and Citizenship Authority to provide welfare and support for refugees exiled offshore by Australia.
The Morrison government did not announce the existence of the agreement and, more than 18 months later, the Albanese government has consistently refused to provide any detail, saying that information would do “damage to the international relations of the commonwealth [of Australia]”.
The Guardian revealed an amount of money flows from Australia’s $303m “offshore management” budget to PNG’s Immigration and Citizenship Authority and on to contractors and subcontractors.
Some refugees told Guardian Australia the main contractor, a newly established company called Chatswood, which has overall responsibility for refugees’ welfare and support, has recently moved offices and cannot be directly contacted. Guardian Australia reached out to Chatswood for comment.
Laurie Kemuel Paugari, manager of the Lodge 10 hotel in Boroko in Port Moresby, which houses 10 refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan, said invoices for the refugees had not been paid since 2021.
He said about 13.5 million PNG kina (A$5.7m) was owed for invoices from December 2021 to June 2023.
He said the hotel had been providing accommodation for refugees since 2017 and had always been paid promptly by the Australian government until that responsibility was assigned to the PNG government.
Paugari is borrowing money from other parts of his business to cover costs.
“We are struggling to look after the refugees. They had to leave their homes, they are fellow human beings and we don’t want to chase them out. We are operating in good faith that we will be paid,” he told Guardian Australia.
A meeting between service providers and the PNG government on Wednesday was barred to refugees and Paugari said he and other hotel managers were not informed about the meeting or given any updates about the situation.
A letter addressed to PNG’s chief migration officer from Lodge 10 in January stated the motel was then owed 9,834,801 PNG kina (A$4,086,000).
“We have made several attempts in following up on the invoices via email, mobile calls and coming to your office but we have not received any favourable response or not even attended to,” the letter said.
PNG’s Immigration and Citizenship Authority has been contacted for comment.
An Afghan refugee, his pregnant wife and two young children were forcibly evicted by police from their accommodation in Port Moresby on Tuesday after a week of threats, Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said.
They have been moved to temporary housing and will move again on Friday, but their situation remains precarious.
Four other refugees had previously been threatened with eviction, and left the same accommodation earlier, Rintoul said.
Ogy Simic from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said 17 other refugees across nine accommodation providers have been threatened with eviction, although he added that he believed the number of people affected is “far greater”.
“Those affected have been given no information about alternative accommodation and support,” Simic said.
“We are deeply concerned about the unfolding crisis and have contacted the Australian government to ask what steps are being taken to provide safety, medical care and housing,” Simic said.
“Access to medical support was already inadequate and placing lives at risk. A further deterioration is of significant concern.”
The Albanese government has appointed Dennis Richardson, a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to investigate the integrity of offshore refugee contracts after revelations the home affairs department had granted numerous contracts to companies linked to bribery investigations and even convictions.
The Australian government “could not continue to deny responsibility for the refugees it sent to PNG in 2013, and should reveal the terms of the secret deal the former government struck in 2021,” Rintoul said.
“Ultimately the only guarantee of the safety and security of the refugees is to bring them to Australia.”
