October

Australia has sent 157 Tamil asylum seekers, including 50 children, to Nauru a week after religious leaders slammed policy in this area as child abuse.

The group were held at sea for a month after their boat, which set sail from Pondicherry in India, was intercepted in June.

They were moved to Australia’s mainland, to the remote Curtin Detention Centre, to meet Indian officials, but refused to speak with them.

India had promised to take back its nationals.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the group would either be resettled in Nauru or deported to Sri Lanka, where they are thought to come from.

Last month, the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce blasted the nation’s border security policy over its treatment of minors.   www.cathnews.co.nz