Rudd's PNG boat deal arrogant: Fiji

FIJI has accused an "arrogant" Australia of dumping its asylum seeker problem on Pacific nations, as the Rudd government prepares to send the first group of boat arrivals to Papua New Guinea for processing and resettlement.

Seventeen boats carrying almost 1400 people have arrived since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his hardline policy to banish asylum boat arrivals to PNG.

Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola on Monday launched a scathing attack on the plan.

He accused Australia of using its economic muscle to persuade a Melanesian country to accept thousands of people who are not Pacific Islanders into the region.

"For an Australian problem, you have proposed a Melanesian solution that threatens to destabilise the already delicate social and economic balances in our societies," Mr Kubuabola told a business forum in Brisbane on Monday.

"We are deeply troubled by the consequent threat to the stability of these countries and the wider Melanesian community by the scale of what is being envisaged."

The foreign minister said the deal was aimed at solving Australia's domestic political problems for short-term political gain, without proper consideration of the long-term consequences.

"We cannot remain silent when the current Australian government dumps this problem, which is arguably of its own making, on our doorstep," Mr Kubuabola said.

"This deal continues a pattern of behaviour on the part of the Australian government that is inconsiderate, prescriptive, high-handed and arrogant."

Work is continuing at Australia's detention centre on Manus Island as the first group of asylum seekers due there by Friday complete health checks in Australia.

A fourth and final airlift of equipment destined for the expanded facility was due to arrive in Port Moresby on Monday.

Each flight carried 10 shipping containers with tents, marquees, poles, frames and a range of building equipment bound for Manus Island.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke said permanent accommodation would replace temporary shelters and the centre could be expanded rapidly as required.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott reiterated that the real test for the PNG arrangement will be whether asylum seekers will be resettled there.

"If the government is to be taken seriously, it does actually need to back up its words with deeds," he told reporters in Sydney.

Meanwhile, Nauru's chief justice, Geoffrey Eames QC, says the nation will need "significant funding" to properly conduct criminal trials for the 150 asylum seekers accused of rioting earlier in July.

"It would be unreasonable to expect the Nauruan government to provide that funding out of its existing budget," he said in a statement.

The detention centre was all but burned to the ground on July 19, the day Mr Rudd announced his radical PNG arrangement.

Only the kitchen and recreation facility remained following the blaze, with the damage estimated at $60 million.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said the PNG government would meet the costs of resettling asylum seekers who came direct to PNG.

"Those who originate out of Australia will be the responsibility of the Australian government," he told ABC Television's 730.

"PNG will meet the costs if they are refugees who wish to seek refuge in PNG and come directly to PNG."

Mr O'Neill said his government was talking with Manus Island community leaders and the provincial government to address concerns of local people about the expansion of the asylum seeker program.

"Some are genuine concerns that the government will work through with them," he said.

"Generally the public is in support of the centre being expanded."

Mr O'Neill said when the first detainees will arrive on Manus would depend on the Australian government.

"I understood it to be a matter of days but of course it has taken a bit longer than that," he said.

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