and Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced the policy in Brisbane. Rudd declared "From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees." In his speech, he said that asylum seekers taken to Christmas Island will be sent to Manus Island or elsewhere, where their refugee status will be assessed. The announcement also outlined plans to expand the Manus Island detention facility, from 600 occupants to 3,000. All refugees found to be legitimate will be resettled in Papua New Guinea. Any asylum seekers found to be non-genuine refugees will either be repatriated, moved to a third country other than Australia if it is unsafe to be repatriated, or remain in detention indefinitely. Australia will bear the full cost of the setup of the policy, as well as provide funding for reforms of Papua New Guinea's university sector, and assistance with health, education and law and order. Rudd described the policy as "a very hard-line decision" to "combat the scourge of people smuggling". The two-page Regional Resettlement Arrangement outlining the policy was signed by Rudd and O'Neill prior to the announcement. Reception The Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott initially showed support for the policy, but said it "wouldn't work under Mr Rudd". The Australian Greens leader Christine Milne slammed the announcement, describing the announcement as "a day of shame". It was condemned by human rights groups such as Amnesty International Australia, who wrote "Mark this day in history as the day Australia decided to turn its back on the world's most vulnerable people, closed the door and threw away the key"; and the UN Refugee Agency, describing the policy as potentially "harmful to the physical and psycho-social wellbeing of transferees, particularly families and children". Protests of hundreds of refugee supporters were held in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide following the announcement. On Manus Island, public opinion regarding the policy and the expansion of the detention centre was mixed. Gary Juffa, governor of the Oro Province, suggested asylum seekers resettled there are likely to be met with hostility. See also Asylum in Australia Immigration to Australia Malaysian Solution Manus Regional Processing Centre Nauru Regional Processing Centre Human rights in Australia Human rights in Papua New Guinea Refugees in Indonesia Rwanda asylum plan References Further reading Australian migration law Refugees in Australia Internments 2001 in Australia 2001