Papua New Guinea will not renew a contract with an Australian company providing security at Pacific refugee camps, a senior minister has told AFP, in another setback for the deeply controversial policy.
Singapore-registered Paladin Holdings provides security and other services at three “transition centres” for refugees being held on Papua New Guinea’s remote Manus Island after trying to get to Australia.
Canberra has turned back thousands of refugees arriving by sea, instead putting them in offshore camps where mental illness and suicide attempts are rife. The policy has cost Australia billions of dollars and earned it international opprobrium, but remains a vote winner at home.
Yet the new government in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea’s capital, plans to “terminate (the) Paladin contract by end of this month” said Immigration Minister Petrus Thomas.
Thomas said his Government had notified Australia’s home affairs department that it will launch a “transparent tender process” that focuses on local firms’ participation.