SYDNEY, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- An Australian state government has said it would be open to resettling refugees from the country's controversial offshore processing centers despite authorities insisting they will never be resettled on Australian shores.
Though the number of refugees trying to reach Australian shores pales in comparison to those that attempted to enter Europe, authorities controversially ship asylum seekers to two Australian offshore immigration processing centers on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and the island nation of Nauru.
Australia's hard-line immigration policies however have come under increasing scrutiny over the past fortnight after the Australian-arm of The Guardian published over 2,000 leaked incident reports from the Nauru processing center alleging widespread abuse, including sexual assult of women and children.
Western Australia state Premier Colin Barnett weighed into the debate late Wednesday night saying he would welcome refugees from the Nauru camp, "as long as they don't pose a security or safety risk", though stopped short of seeking Australia's central government to change its position.
"I wouldn't call on the Federal Government but if they decide to do that we would certainly accommodate a number of them (asylum seekers) in Western Australia and we'd certainly support them as a state government," Barnett told Australia's national broadcaster late Wednesday night.
Australia however has repeatedly refused to resettle refugees at it's offshore camps in Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and the Nauru, claiming it would restart the people smuggling trade.
The public support comes as Australia and Papua New Guinea have agreed to close the Manus Island center, though no timetable or details of where the detainees would be relocated have been revealed.
Australia insists those housed at Manus Island will be resettled in PNG as per the deal struck under the previous Labor party government and will never be brought to Australian shores.
"There is no third-country option available for people out of Manus at this point in time," Dutton told the ABC on Thursday.
"That's the reality that we deal with."
United Nations has called for Australia to expeditiously end to the model of refugee processing and keeping migrants offshore by instituting human rights-compliant alternatives.
