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Australia urged to end asylum seeker deal with PNG

An Australian human rights lawyer has called on the Federal Government to end an agreement with Papua New Guinea to process asylum-seekers.

Lawyer Eric Vadarlis has lodged a claim in an Australian court demanding the processing centre on Manus Island, off Papua New Guinea's northern coast, be closed immediately due to health concerns.

The court action was launched as the Australian Government rejected media reports suggesting more than 15 detainees in the centre had contracted malaria.

But Mr Vadarlis says the health of asylum-seekers on the island is at risk, and the Government should move them out of the centre as soon as possible.

We can't tell the Government where to take these people. What we are saying is they should be taken off Manus Island immediately. They are currently at risk. Their life is at risk. And that has to be taken care of. Where they are taken from then on is entirely up to the government.

07/02/2002 07:43:42 | ABC Radio Australia News

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