Australia PM warns New Zealand against taking refugees

Australia's Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has warned that resettling refugees in neighbouring New Zealand instead of deporting them to offshore detention centres could encourage more asylum seekers to try to reach Australia by boat.  

The plight of 267 asylum seekers facing deportation from Australia to the Pacific atoll of Nauru will be discussed when Mr.Turnbull meets New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key, for talks in Sydney on Friday.  

Mr. Key's government reached an agreement in 2013 with the then Australian government to resettle 150 refugees a year from Nauru and Papua New Guinea.   

Though the offer remained open, it  was never accepted by Canberra. 


ALJAZEERA