Author and journalist Behrouz Boochani has just arrived in New Zealand on a one-month visa after six years of being illegally detained on Manus Island (PNG) so that he can attend the Word Festival in Christchurch at the end of November. It is the first time he has been allowed to leave PNG since August 2013. Perhaps this indicates a shift towards a more positive policy regarding all of the PNG and Nauru Island asylum seekers, who, as Behrouz Boochani has repeatedly emphasised, are human beings, not numbers to be processed and held indefinitely offshore, in limbo.

New Zealand’s offer to resettle 150 refugees from PNG and Nauru still stands. Will Australia finally accept this offer?