The claim that the Coalition government "chose not to process any claims for asylum from people detained on Manus Island" contains elements of truth but requires significant contextual clarification.
**Labor Government Established the Framework:**
The Manus Island Regional Processing Centre was reopened by the Labor Gillard government in November 2012 [1].
On July 19, 2013, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the "PNG Solution" (Regional Resettlement Arrangement), which stipulated that asylum seekers arriving by boat would be sent to Manus Island for processing and resettlement in Papua New Guinea, with no possibility of settlement in Australia [2].
**PNG's Processing Capacity Issues:**
The core issue was that Papua New Guinea lacked established refugee status determination (RSD) processes and domestic refugee law when the 2013 Arrangement was signed [3].
PNG had to implement significant legislative amendments to establish a refugee status determination process, create refugee visas, and provide work rights to refugees [4].
This procedural and legislative groundwork caused substantial delays in processing claims, affecting asylum seekers sent there under both Labor and Coalition governments.
**Coalition Continuation:**
When the Coalition government took office in September 2013 under Operation Sovereign Borders, they maintained the offshore processing policy established by Labor.
**Labor Originated the Policy:**
The claim omits that the Manus Island detention centre was reopened by the Labor government in November 2012 and that the PNG resettlement arrangement was established by Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in July 2013 [6].
Any delays in processing affected asylum seekers sent there under both governments.
**Structural and Procedural Delays:**
The delay in processing claims was significantly due to PNG needing to establish domestic legal frameworks for refugee determination.
This was a systemic issue related to host-country capacity rather than purely an Australian government choice.
**Delayed Processing Under Both Governments:**
Processing of asylum claims on Manus Island was delayed under both Labor and Coalition governments due to the above structural issues.
The original source, rac-vic.org (Refugee Action Collective Victoria), is a grassroots activist organization established in 2000 that campaigns for refugee rights [9].
While their advocacy work is documented, they are clearly an advocacy organization with a specific political stance on refugee issues rather than an independent journalistic or governmental source.
Their fact sheet from March 2014 was published in the aftermath of the February 2014 riots on Manus Island in which Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati was killed [12].
**Did Labor do something similar?**
Search conducted: "Labor government Manus Island asylum claims processing Rudd Gillard"
Finding: Labor did not merely do something similar—they **established the entire policy framework**.
* * * *
The Gillard government reopened Manus Island in November 2012, and the Rudd government signed the Regional Resettlement Arrangement in July 2013 that explicitly stated asylum seekers would be processed on Manus Island [13].
However, processing was delayed due to PNG's lack of established refugee determination infrastructure.
**Key distinction:** Labor created the policy requiring processing in PNG; the Coalition inherited it.
**The Full Context:**
The claim that the Coalition "chose not to process any claims" is misleading because:
1. **Labor established the policy:** The Labor government reopened Manus Island and created the PNG resettlement arrangement that explicitly stated processing would occur there [15].
2. **Structural delays affected both governments:** The delay in processing was substantially due to PNG needing to develop domestic refugee laws and processing capacity, which was not in place when Labor signed the 2013 agreement [16].
3. **Coalition inherited the framework:** Operation Sovereign Borders maintained Labor's offshore processing policy rather than creating it [17].
4. **Processing eventually occurred:** Refugee status determination did eventually begin, and the US resettlement deal was negotiated in September 2016 to provide a pathway for those found to be refugees [18].
**Key context:** This policy approach to offshore processing was **not unique to the Coalition**—it was established by Labor and maintained with bipartisan support.
The delays in processing were systemic issues related to establishing PNG's refugee determination framework rather than a simple "choice" not to process claims.
While it is factually accurate that asylum claim processing on Manus Island was significantly delayed, the framing that the Coalition "chose not to process any claims" is misleading.
The delays in processing were substantially due to Papua New Guinea's lack of established refugee status determination procedures and domestic refugee law, which required time to implement.
Both Labor and Coalition governments sent asylum seekers to Manus Island under a policy framework that proved slower to implement than anticipated due to host-country capacity issues rather than a simple refusal to process claims.
While it is factually accurate that asylum claim processing on Manus Island was significantly delayed, the framing that the Coalition "chose not to process any claims" is misleading.
The delays in processing were substantially due to Papua New Guinea's lack of established refugee status determination procedures and domestic refugee law, which required time to implement.
Both Labor and Coalition governments sent asylum seekers to Manus Island under a policy framework that proved slower to implement than anticipated due to host-country capacity issues rather than a simple refusal to process claims.