Australia will spend up to 250 million Australia dollars ($195 million) housing nearly 800 refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea for the next 12 months after its controversial detention center closes this month.
But hundreds of detainees are refusing the leave the Australian-run and funded Manus Island detention center, which will close on Oct. 31, fearing for their safety in the general community on Manus Island off Papua New Guinea's north coast.
Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish-Iranian journalist held on Manus Island for four years, said detainees fear being assaulted if they moved to the new, Australian-funded Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre.