Sydney - The Australian Immigration Minister, Mr Philip Ruddock, said yesterday some 600 asylum seekers on board a troop ship would disembark at the Pacific island of Nauru today.
Mr Mark Getchell, from the UN International Organisation for Migration had earlier said the 600 mainly Afghan asylum seekers on HMAS Manoora had refused to accept they could not be taken to Australia and declined to leave the ship.
"They're denying the fact that they spent so much money (on) people smugglers and have not got what they paid for, which is to reach Australian shores," Mr Getchell said. But Mr Ruddock told parliament the refugees would be moved off the ship. The government on Monday won its appeal against a court ruling that it illegally detained more than 400 mainly Afghan refugees, while removing them from its territory.