A potential deal to resettle Manus Island refugees in the Philippines would be better than Australia's trouble-plagued deal with Cambodia and may offer solace to detainees who are "losing their minds", refugee advocates say.
The arrangement, if it proceeds, also offers a political release valve to the Turnbull government, which needs to find a solution to the festering problem of offshore detention without appearing to waver on its tough border protection stance.
However Labor has questioned if a bilateral deal with the Philippines is "good economics" after the government "botched" the Cambodia deal by spending $55 million to resettle four refugees from Nauru so far.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed on Friday that refugees who travelled to Australia by boat could be permanently resettled in the Philippines under a deal being negotiated by the government. The arrangement would reportedly be worth about $150 million over five years and involve refugees from Manus Island.
It is unclear if the Philippines would be required to accept a minimum number of refugees.
There are presently 934 adult male asylum seekers and refugees at Manus Island. The Papua New Guinea government has not resettled a single refugee despite pledging to do so.
In the past two years, two asylum seekers have died on the island, gay detainees are allegedly mistreated and refugees released from detention are reportedly not allowed to work or move freely.
Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said to refugees, the Philippines would be "more attractive than going to Cambodia".
"Cambodia is a rather repressive regime and as we can see from the four people who went there, they are not exactly moving freely in the community [and] we know they are not terribly happy," she said.
Ms Curr said while the Philippines was not a perfect solution, refugees on Manus Island "face all sorts of problems, as well as losing their minds".
But she questioned why Australia still refused to resettle the refugees, and why the government was "going around the impoverished … states of the world looking for a place to dump people".
Sydney University international law professor Ben Saul said the Philippines was a developing country but "it's not dirt poor, has a very strong constitutional bill of rights and a strong culture of human rights protections under domestic law".
"It does face internal conflict in the south and there's lots of corruption and governance problems but it's nowhere near as underdeveloped, politically unstable and authoritarian as Cambodia," he said.
The federal government continues to face public pressure to bring a woman allegedly raped at Nauru to Australia for an abortion.
Mr Dutton on Friday indicated the woman was not currently in a condition to travel, but suggested this may change and "I will do what is in the best interests of the individual person based on the medical advice available".
The first group of an emergency intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees is expected to arrive in Australia before Christmas. Mr Dutton said 1000 refugees had been referred to Australian officials for processing in the Middle East, while others had been "screened out".
