Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Nauru poised to loosen Canberra’s detention policy

Posted at 01:20 on 15 November, 2012 UTC

The Nauru government says the nearly 400 asylum seekers in Australia’s camp will not have to wait until they’re declared refugees before they can take part in activities around the island.

Australian immigration officials have said this could only happen once their applications for refugee status had been processed and approved - an exercise, they say, could take five years.

But Nauru’s President, Sprent Dabwido, says his government wants a more flexible arrangement and once medical and security clearances have been done they would welcome the asylum seekers into the community.

“If there’s school children here we won’t be waiting for five years for them to be joining the community and if there’s people who actually haven’t had their refugee status determined but they have had their medical and security checks and everything - I don’t think we will be waiting for five years for that.”

President of Nauru, Sprent Dabwido.