$56m compensation awarded to Manus Island detainees

Money to benefit over 1,300 refugees who were detained and mistreated on Papua New Guinea's Manus prison island.

Australia will pay 70 million Australian dollars ($56m) to asylum seekers detained in Papua New Guinea (PNG), after a senior judge approved a major compensation package.
The state of Victoria's Supreme Court awarded the funds on Wednesday to more than 1,300 refugees held at a centre on Manus Island between November 2012 and December 2014, on the grounds of illegal detention and negligent treatment.The remainder of the almost 2,000 detainees from that period have been granted an extra two and a half weeks to join the class action and register for payment if they wish to.Justice Cameron Macauley declared the decision, which is believed to be the nation's largest human rights settlement, "fair and reasonable".

Compensation deal

Australia offered the compensation agreement in June, more than three years after lawyers initiated the case brought against the government and two service providers operating on the island.
Officials have previously declared the deal "prudent", but denied wrongdoing.
Australian policy dictates that asylum seekers attempting to reach the country by boat are transferred to detention facilities in the Pacific Ocean on Manus, or the island of Nauru; which was not involved in the litigation.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Nick McKim, immigration spokesperson for the Australian Greens party, said: "The government of Australia wants to appear politically tough on refugees and tough on people seeking asylum."