Transcript
Both governments say they are working together to close the Manus processing centre before November.
The majority of the over 800 men held on Manus, who Canberra has excluded from ever settling in Australia, have been found to be refugees.
Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has said that under the Manus deal, it is PNG's responsibility to settle the refugees, and while in PNG Mr Turnbull said progress had been made to settle them in PNG
However PNG's prime minister Peter O'Neill pointed out during his Australian counterpart's visit that most of the refugees don't want to stay.
Mr Turnbull preferred to focus on what his government sees as the outcome of its offshore processing policy
"We have succeeded in stopping the scourge of people smuggling. As you know there is a process of assessment for the purposes of resettlement in the United States underway. We look forward to the conclusion of that work by the United States authorities."
American officials are currently reviewing which refugees the US might take, but PNG's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato says he's not sure how many will make the cut.
"But if they can settle the majority of them, well that's well and good. Of the 1,500-plus asylum seekers who came to Papua New Guinea, 500 of them have already voluntarily gone back to their home country, and the balance is subject of our determination processing, and up to 26 have already agreed to resettle in PNG."
With such a small number of the refugees willing to settle in PNG, there is little the local government can do.
Mr Pato says that under the terms of the agreement, Australia bears full responsibility for the men sent to Manus.
"So, so long as the last person remains at the centre, so long as the last person cannot be resettled in the USA, resettled in a third country, or resettled in PNG, then obviously Australia will help us find a solution, because it's really Australia that we are seeking to help."
The PNG opposition MP Ben Micah says the men on Manus have been left in a limbo without any clear direction, something which Australia should itself have dealt with.
"If they don't want to Papua New Guinea, why treat them like animals and put them in cages? We don't want to be a dumping ground for people who don't want to come here. Australia must set up their own processing facility within their own territory, and process these refugees. We will only take refugees that want to come and live in our country."
Mr Micah has echoed a number of PNG critics in describing it as insensitive for Mr Turnbull to come and meet with what he calls an unpopular government just ahead of elections.
"Second other thing is that whatever they can agree on now may be changed by who ever comes into power in four months time. So I think the timing of this visit was inappropriate and I think it is insensitive to the nature of politics in Papua New Guinea at this time."
at this time."
In recent weeks, officers from both PNG Immigration and the Australian Border Force agency have been actively encouraging such asylum seekers to return home under "voluntary repatriation" packages.
