David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. I can confirm to the House there are currently 635 people on Nauru and the total number of children is 52. Transferees on Nauru have the same freedom of movement around Nauru as other local Nauruans. They are not in detention. Transfers to the United States under the resettlement agreement continue. Further transfers are expected in the coming months and, to date, 439 people have been resettled by this government from Manus and Nauru to the United States, including 17 who departed this week.

There are 65 health professionals contracted by the Australian government to provide health services on Nauru, including 33 mental health professionals. These services are available seven days a week and after hours. More than 200 children have been transferred from Nauru to other nations for medical reasons. Decisions about medical transfers are made on a case-by-case basis under the guidance of a Commonwealth medical officer. We do not issue press releases or make public announcements about these transfers.

The reason these people are on Nauru is the catastrophic failure of the Labor Party, because it is the policies of the Labor Party—the extraordinary and catastrophic humanitarian disaster that was wrought by the Labor Party—that led to people being in offshore resettlement. We know that people-smugglers haven't gone away. We know that this is a very, very dangerous group of people who are itching to get back into business. Under Labor—

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