Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office is dismissing Australian media reports that New Zealand isn't open to settling certain asylum seekers and refugees currently held in Australian detention camps.
On Friday, Australian media, including The Australian and the Courier Mail, and AAP, report New Zealand officials privately told former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull single men would not be offered settlement.
But a spokesperson for Ms Ardern told Newshub that isn't New Zealand's position.
"The Prime Minister has previously said she would want to prioritise women and children, but our position does not exclude men, and the offer applies to both Manus and Nauru."
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has publicly said New Zealand is open to taking 150 people a year off Australia's hands, rather than let them stay in detention camps activists have described as not even being fit for dogs
The spokesperson said the decision to prioritise families, children, vulnerable groups and people with high protection needs reflected an approach consistent with New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme.
Details about settling asylum seekers have not been discussed, according to the spokesperson, as "Australia has never taken up the offer".
Ms Ardern and present Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who toppled Mr Turnbull in August last year, met on Friday in Auckland.
More than 100 Kiwis in custody last month joined a hunger strike against their treatment in the camps.
Newshub.
