CANBERRA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Australia's immigration minister has warned that New Zealand taking refugees from Manus Island would damage the relationship between the two nations.
The Australian government cut essential services to the regional processing center on Papua New Guinea (PNG)'s Manus Island in early November as part of a plan to shut it down.
More than 400 asylum seekers still remain in the center, though, resolute in their determination to stay put rather than be resettled elsewhere on Manus Island.
They have been surviving off an unreliable supply of food and water provided by Manusians.
Jacinda Ardern, the newly-elected New Zealand prime minister, has said that her country would re-settle 150 refugees, an offer that was initially turned down by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In a change of tune, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Australia could not stand in the way if New Zealand and PNG reached an agreement, but said such a move could sour Australia's relationship with its two closest neighbors.
"That's an issue between those two countries. Any sovereign state can enter into bilateral arrangements," Dutton said on Australia's Sky News on Thursday night.
"They would have to think about other equities within the respective relationships - they would have to think about their relationship with Australia.
"It's an issue for New Zealand where they spend their money, but from my perspective we want to get people off Manus and have the processing center closed."
The refugees were sent to Manus Island after they tried to enter Australia illegally by boat. The United States had agreed to resettle some of those refugees in Manus Island but so far just 50 of them were resettled in the U.S.
Dutton said he was concerned that people smuggling operations to Australia would start again if the refugees were sent to New Zealand.
"The people smugglers are watching eagerly at the moment," he said, claiming that if there was a pathway from PNG to New Zealand to Australia then "the train reopens, and I'm not going to allow that to happen."
