NZ needs to step up on refugee intake

The closure of the Manus Island detention camp in Papua New Guinea is long overdue.

Now it's time Australia closed Nauru.

Australia's place as a liberal democracy has been tarnished by its treatment of refugees. Its processing centres are just holding bays before refugees can be shipped back to where they came from.

Back in April Australia and Papua New Guinea announced the Manus Island detention centre will be closed. There was no information on the future of the 854 men held there - except that Australia remains adamant it will accept none of the detainees for resettlement.

Australia's hand was forced by a Papua New Guinea Supreme Court finding the centre "illegal and unconstitutional". And PNG no longer wanted the centre. It had damaged the country's reputation and the few refugees resettled in the community went back to the centre after being assaulted, robbed and, in one case, left homeless.

Like Manus Island, a recent report on Nauru has laid out just what a hell hole the camps are.

The treatment of children and adults, including sexual assault and other criminal acts, have been exposed before and the Australian government and managers of Nauru promised to investigate and improve. The report released in The Guardian this week shows things have got worse, with an increase in reported incidents.

More than three-quarters of those at Nauru whose asylum claims have been assessed have been found to be refugees.

These are people who've come to this part of the world by boat, looking for a better life - it's a story most New Zealanders can relate to. It's the story of our ancestors as well.

But New Zealand cannot rest on its laurels. We may have taken the Tampa refugees and given ourselves a big pat on our back but have done little else. And we don't face the issues Australia does, we are one sea and 4000 kilometres further removed.

Our refugee intake since Tampa has been laughable. Now is the time to offer again.