Chief Justice, Sir Salamo Injia, has requested the Australian government give the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea their position on the refugee statement of facts.
After an inquiry conducted by lawyer representing the refugees, Ben Lomai, five statements were presented in court last week on their intentions of whether or not to accept resettlement in PNG.
Sir Salamo said the court’s request is to complete the flow of information before the substantive inquiry continues.
The refugee statements of facts were purposely being dealt with as a ‘test case’, that if successful, the Supreme Court would use on other refugees to determine their reasons not to resettle in PNG.
Today, the Chief Migration Officer presented a statement in response to the five refugee statements of facts on the PNG government’s position.
The court has questioned if the resettlement of refugees in PNG will have a consequence on the Supreme Court’s order in April, which ruled the Manus Regional Processing Centre to be unconstitutional.
On that note, the Chief Justice requested a statement on behalf of the Australian government regarding their position on the five statements.
