AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): Contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch Daniel Drageset has been interviewed by Auckland radio station 95bFM about the widely-condemned Australian-Papua New Guinea agreement on asylum seekers coming by boat.
Under the new agreement, no boat people will be settled in Australia. Instead, they will be sent to an expanded detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Many have been critical of the new agreement, arguing that it violates the 1954 Refugees' Convention and that it is only intended to help Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd win the upcoming election.
'Ruddiculous' refugee policy - media react to Australia's Manus Is plan
Drageset also spoke about the riot at the Australian detention centre on Nauru on Friday.
"[T]he refugees reportedly took to the kitchen, armed themselves with knives and within two hours had taken over the detention centre," Drageset told Gary Farrow, who hosts The Wire at 95bFM.
The refugees reacted to the news about the Australia-Papua New Guinea agreement, but the main reason for their protest was that the processing of the asylum seeker statuses was too slow.
The riot ended late Friday evening. 152 of the 545 detainees have been charged with arson and property damage in the riot that is reported to have caused damages of close to $NZ69 million, according to Radio Australia.
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