Western Australia Says it Would Welcome Refugees From Offshore Centres

Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island will officially close, but no refugees from the centre will be settled in Australia. That's the final word from Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who made the announcement on Wednesday following a meeting with Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

In a statement, Dutton alluded to the ruling of Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court in April that the Centre breached human rights, and was therefore illegal.

"It has been the longstanding position of this Government to work with Papua New Guinea to close Manus and support those people as they transition into Papua New Guinea or return to their country of origin," he said.

"Our position, confirmed again today with Papua New Guinea, is that no one from Manus Island Regional Processing Centre will ever be settled in Australia."

But that doesn't mean all members of the Liberal party are necessarily in support of keeping refugees offshore. In a rare candid moment late last night, West Australian Liberal leader and state Premier Colin Barnett told ABC Lateline's Emma Alberici that his government would be prepared to accommodate asylum seekers from Nauru, ahead of the closure of the Manus Island Detention Centre in Papua New Guinea.

Closure of the Nauru centre is yet to be announced, although some have speculated that following the Manus Island closure, it is now only a matter of time before the federal government pulls the pin on all its offshore processing centres.

Alberici snuck in the brief conversation with Barnett about the potential of resettling refugees in Western Australia before moving on to a pre-arranged interview about proposed changes to the distribution of GST. It revealed in their discussion that the Premier isn't entirely comfortable with Australia's Pacific Solution, particularly when it comes to the detention of young people and families.

"Particularly for families, as long as they don't present a security or safety risk, I do welcome them being in Australia, and the one thing I find unacceptable is children in detention," Barnett told Lateline.

The Premier added that he would not go so far as to ask Dutton to #bringthemhere, but that if such a decision was made then he would welcome it.

"I wouldn't call on the government but if they decide to do that, we would certainly accommodate a number of them in Western Australia and we'd certainly support them as a state government."

Barnett isn't a defector—he also emphasised his broad support of the Turnbull government's immigration policies, saying that "I think under this government [the refugee situation] has been far more under control than it was under the previous government."

Nonetheless, he likely received an angry phone call from somebody in Canberra this morning.

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