Today I held productive discussions on the future of the Regional Processing Centre on Manus Island with Prime Minister the Hon. Peter O'Neill in Port Moresby.

The Rudd Government entered an agreement with Papua New Guinea establishing the Manus facility at a time when Labor lost control of our borders and tens of thousands of people were coming on boats.

While people smugglers continue to target Australia, the Coalition Government has ensured no boats have made it here in the past two years and more. This effort to combat people smugglers must and does continue.

It has been the longstanding position of this Government to work with PNG to close Manus and support those people as they transition into PNG or return to their country of origin.

Our position, confirmed again today with PNG, is that no one from Manus Island Regional Processing Centre will ever be settled in Australia.

In addition to the removal of all children from detention and the closure of 17 detention centres, this is a further dividend of the Coalition's strong and consistent border protection policies.